


Cinnamon and Sage

by noraebangbang



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Angst, Dom/sub, Light BDSM, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-12 08:28:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 23,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4472372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noraebangbang/pseuds/noraebangbang
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Byun Baekhyun has inherited his father's position as owner of a company. It sucks. But at least his best friend--and former fling--Kim Minseok comes as part of the package. The downside? Baekhyun's still got feelings for his new assistant and they don't seem to be going away anytime soon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 01

It’s weird when you’re twenty-three and your father suddenly passes away and you inherit a whole company whose purpose you only vaguely know. Weirder still that your company inheritance also means inheriting one of your best friends as your new assistant. The two of them, Byun Baekhyun and Kim Minseok, realized what exactly Baekhyun’s father’s death meant not long after the funeral, in a room crowded with lawyers and executives and all of their assistants. Everyone talking at once about who does what and when and how exactly to catch Baekhyun up on everything he needs to know about their company. Baekhyun hadn’t listened to any of it; considering he’d barely gotten time to mourn before being bombarded with papers to sign and decisions to make, he found himself zoning out for the majority of the meeting. All he can remember about it is Minseok’s comforting hand gently squeezing his for the duration.

No one would ever accuse Baekhyun of being responsible enough to raise a puppy, let alone run a company. And it takes a solid month of convincing from Minseok that maybe he can actually do it. Once he’s less mournful. Once he’s got a proper briefing on day to day operations. Once he’s a little more confident. Baekhyun has more interest in watching paint dry than becoming like his father, but figures the least he can do is listen to Minseok. Minseok is smart; if nothing else, he can just make his friend the unofficial owner given how much he knows.

And so the day comes, six months after the funeral, when all parties agree that Baekhyun has the wherewithal to properly run things and he’s ready his first real day of work. Baekhyun stares at his name on the door of his new office with furrowed—but perfectly groomed—brows. He wonders for a moment how much it cost to replace the frosted glass that once had his father’s name instead.

With a sigh, he opens the door and jumps back immediately. Minseok, on the other side of the room, startles as well. He freezes in the middle of arranging something on the desk, and Baekhyun steps closer to see that it’s breakfast. A bagel. Orange. Fancy coffee from a shop across the street. Was it part of his job or just because they’re friends?

He smiles to break the awkward tension, laughing some. “It’s not even seven in the morning,” he says while striding toward the desk. “How do you look so put together?"

The comment makes Minseok look down at himself, at his tailored dark gray suit and black button-up shirt with the charcoal tie and sterling silver cuff links. He adjusts his black-framed glasses and steps aside so that Baekhyun can sit.

“It’s not even seven in the morning,” he says. “How are you still drunk?”

“I am not drunk.” He is a little drunk, but Minseok’s smugness irked sometimes. He sits and stares at the bagel for a moment before opting to just sip the coffee. Pre-sweetened. He smiles. “Were you this attentive with my father?”

“It’s my job,” Minseok says.

“I don’t actually know what you do.”

“I know.”

“I don’t actually know what _I_ do,” Baekhyun continues as he leans back in the oversized leather chair.

“I know.”

The smile they share warms Baekhyun, like twelve years of hugs and inside jokes and comfortable silences all rolled into a crooked little grin. He sips his coffee to stop from smiling so much.

“In any case,” Minseok says as he stands on his toes briefly, “there isn’t anything really intensive for you to do today. Marketing wanted your input on—Are you listening?” Baekhyun stops spinning in the chair, turning guilty eyes up to Minseok. Minseok sighs. “You have to focus. This is your life now.”

“I didn’t ask for it.”

If Minseok is bothered by the relatively low dose of venom in the remark, he doesn’t show it. “Well, you’ve got it, and I’d prefer if you tried at least forty percent. We talked about this. Give it a year and then see how you feel.”

“Did you bring my father breakfast?” Baekhyun asks as he starts to peel his orange. The room smells of citrus and a fine mist from the skin squirts over the files Minseok arranged on the desk.

“I did,” Minseok nods. “Could you maybe not get citric acid all over your files for today?”

“Can’t you just print more?” Baekhyun shrugs. Minseok’s mouth tightens for a split second, and Baekhyun braces himself to be yelled at by the older man. Except, it doesn’t happen. He raises an eyebrow. “What is this?”

“What is what?” Minseok asks as he steps over to just move the manila folders out of Baekhyun’s way.

“No, no, this is too weird,” Baekhyun shakes his head, his auburn fringe falling into his face. “This isn’t how this works. I say jackass things, you call me on it, and then you kick me in the ass and I laugh. What are you doing? Where is the yelling?”

“We’re at work,” Minseok says. He holds the folders to his chest. “And I do, surprisingly, have a hint of professionalism. Your first meeting is in twenty-five minutes.” His right hand waves one of the folders slightly. “Marketing.”

It hadn’t occurred to Baekhyun that working with his best friend—well, having his best friend work for him—might make things a little different. He definitely does not like this. He eats his orange with a pout, silent to protest this new arrangement and the awkwardness therein. Instead of acknowledging it, Minseok simply briefs Baekhyun on all of the meetings for the day, not fazed in the least by this silent treatment.

When there’s nothing left to explain, and only ten minutes until the first meeting, Minseok walks closer to Baekhyun. He sits himself on top of the desk, steadying himself by keeping the toes of one foot on the ground. Baekhyun tries to ignore the light scent of cinnamon and sage around Minseok, tries even harder to ignore his friend’s gentle touch on his chin to lift his gaze.

“Look at me,” Minseok says, and Baekhyun does. “You’ll be okay. Stop pouting. You just have to sit and say yes or no every now and then, and then take a long lunch, come back, and more yes or no. And I’m going to be here. Okay?”

Once, as sophomores in college, they’d tried dating. They made it a whole week before deciding it was most definitely too weird. And sometimes, every now and then, Baekhyun thinks back to that week and all the kissing and touching and stroking and moaning and the cinnamon and sage that swirled in his nostrils and he almost kind of misses it. He swallows hard and gives a half-hearted nod, which brings Minseok’s crooked grin back.

“Okay.” He taps Baekhyun’s cheek and stands again, adjusting the lapel of his suit. “Are you ready?”


	2. 02

The meeting is exactly as boring as Baekhyun imagined it would be. He spends most of it making squiggles in the margins of his notes, or staring out the window to watch clouds drift past, or wondering what, if anything, Minseok does while meetings are happening. When the others start to leave, he gathers his paperwork and heads out as well, and Minseok stands nearby waiting.

“How was it?” he asks.

They both know the answer, and Baekhyun finds his _Terrible_ has an echo as Minseok says it with him. His grin widens.

“Why do you ask things that you already know the answer to?” he asks.

“For the sake of conversation,” Minseok says, giving a small nod of greeting to a passing coworker. “The next meeting—”

“Is this really what I’ll be doing all day?” Baekhyun whines. He pushes the door of his office open with a groan. “Meetings and meetings and meetings?”

“Basically yes,” Minseok laughs slightly. “For now, anyway. I’m sure you’ll get more to do once people are more comfortable with you having final say.”

The thought of more responsibility makes Baekhyun groan loudly. He flops forward, sprawled out on his desk with a displeased hum. For the first time, he regrets being an only child. Someone else had to be more capable, he was certain. Even if he were sitting in for his father in name only, having to do things like meetings was just too boring. He already misses spending his afternoons having lazy band practices with Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. Neither of them is even awake yet, he’s certain.

“You’re more fun away from work,” Baekhyun says, adding extra-strength whining to his tone. He knows it doesn’t faze Minseok even a tiny bit, but he tries anyway.

“So are you. Be serious, just for the next six hours.”

“Make me.”

Baekhyun slides off of the desk and into his chair, slumping and glowering at Minseok. It has about as much effect on him as a kitten poking a tiger.

“You really don’t want me to do that,” Minseok shakes his head. “Please just suck it up and do this. You don’t even have to come in every day. Six hours. I’ll do something nice for you if you just finish the day out without another tantrum.”

“I’m not—”

“You definitely are throwing a tantrum.”

Minseok’s shoes click against the linoleum as he crosses the room to take a seat on the Italian leather sofa. Baekhyun watches him cross his legs, adjust his glasses, rake his hair back. For a moment, a memory flashes to the front of his head of sitting on Minseok’s lap and pushing his hair back out of his face for him. He looks away.

“Fine,” he says. “I won’t whine for the whole rest of the day, and then you owe me.”


	3. 03

It takes a Herculean amount of effort, but Baekhyun suffers through the entire six hours without a whine, eye roll, or heavy sigh. To celebrate, Minseok offers to take him out for dinner and drinks, though Baekhyun insists that that isn’t the favor he wants to call in.

The two of them go straight from work, meeting Chanyeol and Kyungsoo at their usual place. Generally, they go after practice, or late nights when one of them needs to get away from home for whatever reason. The crowd skews young, artsy, and decidedly not stuffy and businessy. Eyes turn to them as soon as they step inside in their dressy clothes. 

“Is that really what you wear to work?” Chanyeol asks. They aren’t anywhere close to him and yet his voice carries anyway, all the way from a far corner of the restaurant. He raises a hand and waves enthusiastically, eyes already starting to look a bit heavy from drinking as they waited. He scoots himself over and grabs Baekhyun’s wrist, pulling him down onto the floor cushions. He kisses Baekhyun’s hair with a too-loud smack before laughing. “You look like your dad, Minseok.”

“Shut up,” Minseok says. He sits across from them, beside Kyungsoo, who hasn’t actually looked up from the menu as if he doesn’t consistently order some variation of bibimbap every single time. 

Baekhyun leans into Chanyeol, pleased to have the attention from his younger, albeit taller, friend. If he had to narrow it down to just one best friend, it would be Chanyeol, with his overly loud laugh and kind eyes and shaggy silver hair. It wasn’t as if the other two weren’t close to him; instead, he’d just known Chanyeol the longest and the two understood each other well without so much as a syllable breathed between them. Chanyeol meant comfort and acceptance and Baekhyun needed both of those on a near-constant basis.

He smiles as Minseok loosens his tie. “Our Minseokie is a consummate professional,” he teases. “He should just run the company himself.”

“Do you even know what you do yet?” Kyungsoo asks. His massive doe eyes glance to Baekhyun briefly with a quick adjustment of his glasses.

“Not even a little bit,” Baekhyun says. He reaches and steals one of Chanyeol’s unattended shots, tossing it back with ease. “But Minseokie does. He’s a good assistant. I should hire him to come assist me at home.”

The laugh from Chanyeol earns him an elbow to the ribs. With his role as official best friend comes the knowledge of every secret crush and random fantasy, and Baekhyun absolutely cannot have him revealing any of that. Sometimes, during drunken nights without Minseok or Kyungsoo, Baekhyun rambles at Chanyeol about missed opportunities and bad fate and how it gets strange seeing Minseok with the parade of women he began trotting out after their week together. Besides, they broke up because it was weird. Even if it hadn’t been weird to Baekhyun at all. 

“There’s always room in the band for you to come back, y’know,” Chanyeol says to avoid getting elbowed again. “You too, Minseok. Even though we really should have replaced you by now.”

“I keep saying that I know a guy,” Kyungsoo mumbles, shaking his head.

They’re all aware that replacing Minseok means moving on from their past, and none of them are quite ready to do that yet. With the subject successfully changed, the quartet drink the evening away, exchanging stories about Baekhyun’s first day of work and the gig Kyungsoo booked for their band. Midnight creeps up on them, and the reminder that, unlike every other time, half of them actually have to be awake in the morning.

Baekhyun doesn’t remember exactly how he gets from the floor of the restaurant to his bed, but he’s grateful for Minseok once his eyes focus long enough to realize that’s who is currently undressing him.

He closes his eyes to stop the spinning. “Are we about to fuck?” he asks as he drapes his forearm over his eyes.

Minseok laughs. “We didn’t even fuck when we were dating,” he says. He stands to fold Baekhyun’s pants. “Why would we now when you’re drunk and I’m tired?”

“Just a question.” Baekhyun can practically hear his own disappointment squealing in his ears and briefly wonders if he’s actually making that noise aloud. “Why didn’t we?”

“Hm? Oh. Well, I don’t know.” Even drunk, Baekhyun can hear the lie straining Minseok’s voice. “You should go to sleep. Lie on your side.”

“I’m not tired,” Baekhyun says as he shifts onto his side anyway. “You owe me.”

“I know,” Minseok says. “Go to bed.”

“Are you going to leave?” Desperation isn’t a good look on anyone, as far as Baekhyun is concerned, but he really wants Minseok to stay. The blurriness makes it hard to tell what exactly Minseok is thinking in the silence. “Please don’t.”

Another laugh. “Is that the favor you’re calling in?”

Baekhyun doesn’t answer. He almost doesn’t breathe, caught up in watching Minseok removing his tie, unbuttoning his shirt, unzipping his pants. He’d recently gotten on a health kick and Baekhyun is absolutely certain those well-defined abs weren’t there the last time he saw Minseok shirtless.

The bed shifts with Minseok’s weight, and Baekhyun scoots a bit closer to the wall to make room. He does his best to keep his hands to himself.

“You don’t really have to go in tomorrow,” Minseok comments, fiddling with his phone to set an alarm, “but it’d be best if you did. And then you can just stay home the rest of the week. Deal?”

“Did you know you’ve worn that cologne for seven years now?”

“Okay, goodnight, Baekhyun.” Minseok laughs again, turns off his phone screen, and snuggles closer to Baekhyun.

Baekhyun doesn’t sleep.


	4. 04

Day two drains Baekhyun more than the first day had, with people actually speaking to him now. Asking questions. Wanting decisions. He wants to tell everyone to piss off, but whenever the urge arises, all he can see in his head is a stern-looking Minseok. He swallows his snark and behaves.  
When it’s time to go home, he makes his way to Minseok, sitting down on top of his friend’s perfectly-arranged desk and knocking a pen holder over with his butt. Minseok groans quietly.

“Are you taking me to dinner again?” Baekhyun asks while Minseok shoves pens back into place. “I think I deserve dinner. I didn’t complain once!”

“I’m not buying you dinner every time you manage to be an actual adult,” Minseok shakes his head. “I do my job without complaining every weekday. Where’s my dinner?”

“Okay, I’ll buy you dinner, then. Unless you have a date.” There’s an overabundance of bitterness in that implication, but if Minseok notices, he doesn’t show it.

“Who has dates on a Tuesday?” he asks. “Fine. Buy me dinner. I’ll text Chan—”

“No.” Minseok’s eyes widen at the suddenness of the interruption, and his thumb hovers over his phone screen. “I mean. It should be just us. And I think he’s busy tonight.”

“Oh…okay then.” Minseok accepts the flimsy excuse and puts his phone away.

Baekhyun floats his way out of the office with Minseok and does his best to not get on his friend’s nerves. Still, he can’t let silences linger, and he fills the air between them with chatter about the band, his daydreaming during meetings, a kitten he saw on his lunch break…By the time they reach a place, he realizes that this is definitely not the usual. 

“Wait, what’s happening?” he asks, glancing back as Minseok pushes him on through the open door.

The inside looks like the restaurants his father takes clients to—stuffy and proper and the exact opposite of Baekhyun. He frowns and tries not to look as uncomfortable as he feels.

“I deserve something expensive,” Minseok says.

“This place is for boring people.” Baekhyun pouts all the way to the table and plops down, resting his head against his palm. “I wanted fun dinner, not work dinner.”

“This is fun,” Minseok says. He smiles, and Baekhyun can’t help but return one. “And I’m not going to waste the rare moment of you offering to pay for food on some place we go every week.”

Minseok tugs at the knot of his tie a little, loosening it, and Baekhyun finds himself staring at it for a while. Today’s suit is blue, a deep blue like cartoon water, with a black shirt and striped black and blue tie. He looks like the host of a fashion show. 

“Try not to get too drunk again,” Minseok says. “I’m not carrying you home again.”

“You carried me?”

“Well. I dragged you,” Minseok says with a laugh. “You’re really heavy as dead weight. Oww, stop.” He laughs more at Baekhyun’s half-hearted kicking under the table. “Really, I just don’t think you should be falling out drunk three nights in a row. Give your liver a break.”

“My liver isn’t the boss of me,” Baekhyun scoffs. He asks for a water instead of beer and ignores Minseok’s smirking. “You should let me celebrate being an adult however I want. I worked for two whole days in a row.”

“I’ll call the Olympic committee tomorrow about your gold medal.”

It stings, more than Baekhyun cares to admit, but he doesn’t keep pushing the topic. Considering he’s well aware that he’s far more fortunate than his friends, Minseok in particular. Their upbringings couldn’t have been more different, but Baekhyun tried to even the playing field by helping Minseok land his assistant job. It was the least he could do. And it meant keeping Minseok close instead of his friend heading off to graduate school elsewhere.

When their food arrives, they continue the silence for a while longer until Baekhyun can’t stand it anymore. “So do you have to work tomorrow if I don’t go?” he asks.

“Yes,” Minseok says with a nod.

“What if I give you the day off?” Minseok’s eyebrow jumps upward. He stares at Baekhyun, and Baekhyun smiles. “You could have a fun day off with me. Unless your girlfriend will be upset.”

“Why would hanging out with a friend make a girlfriend upset?” Minseok focuses back on his food, almost mumbling his question. “And I don’t have a girlfriend, besides.”

“Spend tomorrow with me,” Baekhyun says. “That’s my favor.”

“Why—”

“You do a lot,” Baekhyun says. “And I think you should have time off. And I miss spending time with you. You get busy with work or…with girls…So I’d like to just spend tomorrow with you. Well, you can spend the night tonight and that’ll be easier…” His ears suddenly burn, but he ignores the creeping embarrassment at his own clumsy desperation. “Tomorrow we can find something fun for you to do. My treat. As a thank you for being there for me after…it happened. And to show my appreciation for your job.”

“You’re being weird.” Minseok laughs some and shakes his head. “Why do you keep bringing up girls?”

Baekhyun considers telling Minseok his feelings. He thinks about saying how much he cares about him, how he’s stuck on a week in their past that he’s certain Minseok never thinks about. He thinks about saying he’d like to grab Minseok’s tie and wrap it around his fist and yank him forward to mash their faces together.

“No reason.”


	5. 05

The rest of the dinner isn’t as awkward as Baekhyun anticipated, but it feels out of sync. He manages to not get too drunk, but at least a few drinks help him feel less weird. His heart beats a little faster the closer they get to his house, and his hands shake a little as he unlocks the door.

“I haven’t cleaned up,” he says for reasons he’s not entirely sure of.

“I was here last night, Baekhyun,” Minseok reminds him, laughing a little. “And it isn’t like I expect you to be meticulous. I know you. I’ll just clean in the morning.”

“Great because that’s why I asked you over.”

The joking makes Baekhyun relax a little, breathe a bit easier. He slides his way across the floor toward his couch and bounces onto it, and Minseok follows. He moves Baekhyun’s legs and sits down, then puts Baekhyun’s legs across his lap. They’ve sat like that hundreds of times before without a second thought, so Baekhyun has no idea why this time makes his heart jump.

“You’re predictable,” Minseok says with a laugh. He starts to rub Baekhyun’s calf. “Congratulations on two whole days of actual work.”

“Isn’t it weird to you?” Baekhyun asks. “To be my assistant? You have to do what I say.”

“I do what you say anyway.”

“You know what I mean.” A light kick to the thigh makes Minseok laugh. “Maybe I should let you boss me around after work to make up for it.”

“You definitely don’t want that,” Minseok says. “But I appreciate the offer.”

“Don’t tell me what I don’t want,” Baekhyun scoffs. He stares for a while before smiling a little. “You always think you know what I want. Even when we dated—”

“Approximately seven hundred years ago.”

“It wasn’t that long ago,” Baekhyun says with another small kick. “Admit it. It was the best week of your life.” Minseok only smiles. “Even if it was too weird for you.”  
“Baekhyun…”

“Do you know why I keep asking about girls?” Somehow, covering his eyes will make talking easier. “You’ve had a ton of them in the last four years and it just felt like you were trying to erase everything you did with me from you. Because obviously being with me is gross and wrong and you’re swinging the pendulum in the exact opposite direction and you haven’t interrupted me to say otherwise yet so I’m assuming that everything I’m saying is the truth. So I’m going to just go to bed now. Do whatever you want.”

He stands and does his best to not cry, starting to walk toward his bedroom. It was stupid, really, to expect Minseok to suddenly declare his love. Minseok isn’t like that, for one. And for two, it isn’t as though Baekhyun has a parade of men banging down his door. Of course Minseok isn’t interested. No one is interested.

He makes it three steps before not being able to walk any farther, and he turns to look at Minseok. At Minseok’s blank face. At Minseok’s hand wrapped around his wrist to hold him in place.

“You bought it,” Minseok says. Baekhyun’s face contorts in confusion, which prompts Minseok to elaborate. “The cologne. I wear it because you bought it and you said it smells nice on me.”

“Oh.” There’s more stuck in Baekhyun’s throat unsaid, but he can’t manage to bring it up. He smiles gently. “Is this you admitting you screwed up dumping me?”

“I didn’t—You’re aggravating.”

He lets Baekhyun go, and the two of them wind up staring eye to eye. Or, almost eye to eye. Baekhyun blinks at Minseok a few times, trying to read the other’s face as best he can. Minseok, for better or worse, has a much easier time of making his face unreadable than Baekhyun does, and it makes for some rather frustrating moments. The intense stare makes Baekhyun fidget. Or maybe it’s how close they’re standing—hardly enough space between them for a breeze to pass through. He glances down to keep from looking Minseok in the eyes more, looking at his socks for a moment, then Minseok’s hands in his pockets, then the top button of Minseok’s shirt, unbuttoned and revealing a tiny hint of his chest. Baekhyun gulps.

“Do you want me to come to your room or stay on the couch?” The question is slow. Deliberate. As if Minseok already knows the answer, and knows which he’d prefer. Baekhyun’s insides start to flutter again.

“My room.” Baekhyun can’t even look at Minseok as he answers, certain that the smug smirk is back. Instead, he shoves his hands into his pockets as well and shuffles toward his room without turning to see if Minseok follows.

The closing of the door tells him the answer, and he works to not smile too hard about it. He starts to pull his shirt off, but Minseok again slaps a hand on his wrist.

There isn’t time to protest the grabbing. By the time Baekhyun opens his mouth to say something, it’s already quieted by Minseok’s own mouth. Minseok’s mouth, soft and inviting and tasting of wine and minty lip balm. Minseok’s mouth that immediately transports Baekhyun back to the summer of their dating attempt, at their first clumsy kiss that had resulted in a bloody lip and a sore nose. This is different. This is better.

Baekhyun lets out a gentle sigh as Minseok pushes against him. Walks him backwards toward the unmade bed. Falls against him without even breaking the kiss. Minseok’s hands start to roam with uncertainty for a moment and Baekhyun whines, shifts his weight to bring a leg up to get more comfortable. He almost moves to find a place for Minseok to touch, but before he can, Minseok’s found his place with one hand tucked into Baekhyun’s pants to rub his hip, the other cupped against Baekhyun’s neck to gently massage there. Baekhyun smiles into their kiss. He remembers.

Minseok moves his lips away and for a moment, Baekhyun feels lost until those lips start to kiss along his jaw, down his neck. Instead of complaining, he just feels electric with each kiss. The way Minseok’s hands just know him, even after so long, even after they’d been together for such a short time. The way his tongue drags for a second and moves away again. Baekhyun doesn’t even have the capacity to complain about how weird it is to make out with only the sounds of their quickened breathing.

His breath hitches as Minseok moves the hand on his hip some, around his thigh, toward his member. The slow strokes feel as deliberate as Minseok’s earlier words and Baekhyun finds himself biting his lip to try and hold in a moan. He remembers, and it feels better than any random fling Baekhyun’s had over the years. 

“You’re really hard,” Minseok mutters, his lips surrounding Baekhyun’s nipple. Baekhyun shudders at Minseok’s breath against him.

“I really like you.” The words tumble out and Baekhyun doesn’t have time to regret them. If he regrets them at all. Minseok isn’t shaken by it and instead presses his tongue against Baekhyun’s nipple with a slow drag before sucking. Baekhyun’s attempts to keep quiet immediately fail.

He can feel himself start to spin, a deep tingle in his gut that edges closer, more outwardly, as Minseok thumbs the head of his cock for a moment before starting to stroke him faster. He starts to try and think of something else to keep from coming too fast, but his attempts at avoidance aren’t quick enough. He shudders, fingertips digging into Minseok’s strong biceps as he comes. Minseok moves up from his nipple and back to his mouth, their tongues crashing into one another as he keeps stroking until he can’t feel Baekhyun pulsing in his hand anymore.

“When was the last time you jerked off?” Minseok asks, mouth still firmly fixed to Baekhyun. “You didn’t even come that fast in college.” He laughs some, and Baekhyun groans.

“I changed my mind. Go sleep on the couch.”

His mind immediately changes again as Minseok pushes himself upright, slides his hand out of Baekhyun’s pants, stares at the cum coating his fingers. He smiles a little, which Baekhyun could swear is a rather proud smile, before pushing his index finger into his mouth and sucking. Baekhyun feels a tiny twitch in his pants again as he watches.

Rather than lick his other fingers, Minseok puts his middle finger against Baekhyun’s lower lip and watches him with expectant eyes. It doesn’t take much more than that for Baekhyun to part his lips a little, taste himself on the other’s finger. Minseok’s smile this time is definitely one of pride.


	6. 06

They don’t talk about it. Not during the breakfast that Minseok prepares before going about tidying up Baekhyun’s living room. Not while trying to decide what to do on Minseok’s day off. Not in Baekhyun’s car on the way to the amusement park that Minseok insisted they go to. Not even in line waiting to buy wristbands for the park.  
Baekhyun worries about what that means. If it was just a one-off out of boredom or tipsiness or both. If he’s going to be going to bed alone later on. Still, he tries to engage with the small talk Minseok is making, however awkward it makes him feel.

“I’m not riding any rollercoasters,” Baekhyun decides, arms folded. It doesn’t look very threatening, though, considering his oversized burnt orange sweater makes him look approximately twelve years old, playing dress-up in an older sibling’s clothes.

“I wasn’t going to ask you to,” Minseok shrugs. His sunglasses up his cool factor by at least twenty percent, and Baekhyun feels even weirder about their apparent avoidance.

He sighs. “I can’t do this,” he says as he shakes his head. An eyebrow raises over the top of Minseok’s sunglasses. “Why aren’t we talking about it?”

“About…what?”

“Seriously?”

Minseok pushes his sunglasses up onto his hair and stares at Baekhyun, and for a moment Baekhyun considers ignoring feeling weird and just enjoying the view. Without copious amounts of gel and spray, Minseok’s hair falls into his face more, frames it quite nicely with the sunglasses acting as a makeshift headband.

Baekhyun pushes the sunglasses back down to avoid that temptation.

“Stop,” Minseok laughs. He swats at Baekhyun halfheartedly and pushes his shades up again. “What is there to say?”

“Well…” It’s at this moment that Baekhyun realizes he hadn’t thought that far ahead. The annoyance at not talking about it trumped thinking about what he actually wanted to say.

Minseok smiles. “See? Nothing to say.” He wraps an arm around Baekhyun’s neck, practically pulling him into a chokehold for a moment, and leads the way into the park. “You’re too worried about labels and meanings. Things are allowed to just be, Baekhyunnie.”

“That’s something that people who plan on sleeping around say.”

Baekhyun wiggles his way out of the hold and starts to walk ahead a few steps. He tries to focus on the crowded park, on the sticky-sweet cotton candy scents wafting through the air and the worn faces of parents dragging whiny children along.

“If we aren’t together, how does it count as sleeping around?”

“I don’t think I want to be here anymore,” Baekhyun mutters. This whole fun day off has made him bitter and angry at himself for thinking maybe something was sparked again. He tugs at his wristband to try and get the impossible plastic off while turning on his Chucks to head back to the entrance.

“No, I’m sorry,” Minseok says. He’s laughing, and it just makes Baekhyun more pissed. Minseok’s hands find their way to Baekhyun’s waist, just above his wide hips, and he pulls him closer and turns him around again. “Sorry. Stay with me. But stop making yourself mad.”

“I’m going to call Chanyeol and tell him to meet us here,” Baekhyun says.

“Don’t. I’m sorry. I’ll stop, okay?” Minseok points his hands toward the sky in surrender. “What do you want me to say? Should I stake some kind of claim on you?”

“Now you’re just being an asshole.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes, sidesteps Minseok and heads toward a food vendor. Anything to avoid getting too upset in front of a bunch of strangers.

“I’m sorry!”

Minseok hops his way in front of Baekhyun, who continues trying to avoid looking at him. It isn’t as though Baekhyun is angry, really. Disappointed. Embarrassed. Lonely. That last one is the kicker. He scowls briefly at a couple making googly eyes at each other near the front of the line, but is distracted before he can be too disgusted.

Once again, Minseok pops up in front of him, grinning so hard even his gums show. “Baekhyunnie! Be happy!” he says in the cutesiest voice he can muster. Baekhyun screws his mouth off to the side to keep from smiling. It gets on his nerves how easily the older one can slip from sexy to adorable in the blink of an eye. Or, more accurately, it gets on his nerves how much he enjoys it.

“You’re embarrassing,” Baekhyun says.

“I won’t stop until you smile! Smile!” Minseok pushes his fingers into the corners of Baekhyun’s mouth and Baekhyun loses all resolve to be sullen. He laughs as he pushes Minseok’s hands away. “There. See? Stop being a grump.”

“Make me.”

They share a smile, and Minseok laughs a little before taking Baekhyun’s head in his hands. He kisses his hair before letting go, raking Baekhyun’s bangs back out of his face.

“Is that what this is about?” he asks. “You just want to start dating again so I boss you around?”

Baekhyun feels his cheeks start to flush. Somehow, he didn’t think about any ulterior motives and how transparent they might be, but it starts to hit him with the gentleness of Minseok’s touch that he missed that aspect of their brief relationship, too. It only happened once, right before Minseok suggested they end things, and Baekhyun had thought about it at least once a month since. He hadn’t mentioned the very brief toe-dip into submission to anyone, although at one point, Kyungsoo had guessed and then proceeded to make subtle comments about it every now and then. It felt weird having a secret from Chanyeol, but it would be even weirder to talk to him about it.

With a lack of response, Minseok moves forward, close enough that Baekhyun can practically count every thick eyelash.

“That’s why,” he says quietly. He smiles, then moves away from Baekhyun and steps up to the booth.

By the time Baekhyun remembers what breathing is again, Minseok is handing him a frozen lemonade. He smiles some at Minseok managing to guess what he wanted.

“What’s why?” he asks as he skitters to follow Minseok. He sips his lemonade and immediately puckers, coughing a little.

“It got weird because of…the thing that you want from me,” Minseok says carefully. “That’s not me. Or, at least, I didn’t think it was. And it felt strange. So…”

“You are awful,” Baekhyun says. He elbows Minseok, smiling despite the insults. “Why didn’t you just say?”

“Because you looked way too happy, and I didn’t want it to be a regular thing at the time, so—”

“So you think it could be a regular thing now?”

Baekhyun’s voice gets higher than he means for it to. Instead of answering, Minseok’s quiet nervous laugh comes back and he takes Baekhyun’s hand, interlocking their fingers and swinging their arms some as they walk.


	7. 07

Somehow, Baekhyun winds up on a rollercoaster. It isn’t that he hates them; he rather enjoys the rush of the wind across his face, the stomach-dropping sensation of a steep descent. But several friends handle rollercoasters terribly, and annoyingly, and he’d much rather ride alone than deal with them. Minseok’s screeches at every little jolt hurt his ears. Normally. Normally, he’d yell at Minseok to shut up. This time, though, he finds himself smiling as Minseok yells, arms in the air and hands flailing wildly. He realizes he hasn’t seen normal, goofy Minseok very often since—

Baekhyun’s stomach falling immediately has nothing to do with the rollercoaster. The thought of his father’s death creeps back in, and he has a hard time with focusing on anything other than that. By the time the ride is over, he looks morose. Queasy. 

He jumps a bit at the feeling of fingertips on his arm, then looks to see Minseok’s concerned frown. “What happened?” he asks. “Was that not fun?”

“No, sorry, I had fun.” The smile Baekhyun stirs up looks more like he’s accidentally swallowed a bug and doesn’t want to call attention to it. It’s not even remotely convincing enough for Minseok to leave the situation be. “I just started thinking, that’s all. Let’s ride something else.”

“Are you tired? I’m tired. Let’s go to a gift shop.” Minseok tanks Baekhyun along, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

There’s no way Minseok is even remotely tired after just five rides, but Baekhyun quietly appreciates the break in forced fun. At least wandering around a gift shop doesn’t take very much effort. The shop is surprisingly not crowded, which makes Baekhyun feel even better. He drifts toward a display of park mascot figurines to stare at those while Minseok flits off elsewhere. 

It’s only a few minutes of being left alone, but it’s enough that Baekhyun feels far better than if he’d attempted to suffer through his down moment. Minseok, out of nowhere, plops an aubergine princess hat on Baekhyun’s head before stepping back with a grin.

“…Why.” Baekhyun sighs and pushes the fluff of purple tulle cascading out of the hat back away from his face before laughing. Minseok points to his own cone hat, blue with white tulle. “That’s not an answer.”

“Because we look cute,” Minseok nods. He pulls out his phone and hugs Baekhyun closer to take a picture. “I’m going to send this to Kyungsoo.”

“He’ll just delete it,” Baekhyun says. He elbows Minseok playfully before heading over to a rack of key chains, keeping his hat on. “Maybe you should take more time off. You haven’t been normal like this in a really long time.”

“Neither have you.”

Baekhyun has no idea what to say to that for a moment. He turns, watching Minseok watch him.

“Yes I—”

“No you haven’t,” Minseok says, shaking his head. “And I understand. I just didn’t want to make things more awkward for you. I thought maybe you needed time to not be on, I guess, so to speak. We never really talked about your dad but I just assumed you were still upset.”

“I don’t think I can have this conversation right now with you in that hat.”

Minseok smiles. He cups Baekhyun’s neck and Baekhyun feels his heart speed up. After brushing his thumb against the nape of his neck briefly, Minseok lets go and heads to the register to pay for their hats and a couple of mugs he’s grabbed for Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. It dawns on Baekhyun that maybe this toned-down Minseok is the result of his own normal personality being toned down. He smiles a bit to himself, grateful for such a considerate person in his life. His head comes to rest against Minseok’s back as they wait in line, and he feels a tiny spark in him flicker back to life.


	8. 08

Baekhyun wakes first. The night passed slowly, or at least it felt that way to him, considering he spent much of it just watching Minseok clean and complaining about it. He wanted to complain about the lack of fooling around, too, but reasoned with himself that Minseok had definitely said tomorrow. And now it was tomorrow. His stomach does cartwheels.

He leans in some, watching Minseok sleeping, and smiles gently at how much the older one looks like one of those old timey cherub paintings, chubby cheeks, bow lips and all. His fingers float above Minseok’s messy hair for a moment before he ultimately decides not to bother him. Considering he slept through the phone alarm, which Baekhyun turned off for him, he must really need the rest.

Instead, Baekhyun slides out of the bed and carefully pads his way out of his room. He takes a moment to call in sick for Minseok, then heads to his kitchen to attempt to make breakfast. Given that the most effort he puts into his own breakfasts usually consists of pressing the start button on the microwave, the thought of making something nice for Minseok baffles him momentarily. He stares at the canisters of ingredients, relatively untouched, on his counter, then decides to do the only logical thing he can think of.

“Hey, how do I make pancakes happen?” he asks before Kyungsoo can even finish saying hello on the other end. Silence follows, and Baekhyun is almost certain his friend is considering how to murder from across the city. “Tell me how to make pancakes and I won’t ask you for another thing for the next month.”

“It’s nine in the morning.”

“Two months. Please?” He reaches for the flour canister, still basically full, and shakes it some. “Three months and I’ll buy your dinner every time we go out.”

“Do you even have milk?” Kyungsoo’s yawn makes him sound far less threatening, though his voice is even deeper with having been woken up. “You need milk and eggs. Are you okay? Why are you making pancakes?”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay just because I’m making pancakes?” He puts his phone down on the counter, pressing the speaker button, then heads to his fridge. Leftovers from the other night. Some random condiments. A couple of cans of soda. He sighs. “Can I make pancakes with Sprite?”

“No you c—Baekhyun, why are you making pancakes?”

He considers lying, but Kyungsoo is weirdly intuitive and always winds up squeezing out the truth anyway. He closes the fridge with another sigh.

“Minseok is here and I was going to try to make breakfast.” The laughing on the other end is low, but at least it’s not a mocking kind of laugh. “Shut up.”

“Sometimes you’re cute,” Kyungsoo says. “Just get breakfast delivered.”

“You’re not going to ask why he stayed over?”

“You’re an adult and he’s an adult and I honestly don’t want to know.”

“Are you with Chanyeol right now?” Silence. “You know, you two should really just—”

“Did you call me to ask about pancakes or to goad me into asking about your evening?” Kyungsoo asks.

“…Both,” Baekhyun sighs. He hops his way up onto his counter, swinging his legs and picking the phone back up. “I think we’re dating now. Again. Maybe? Maybe not, now I’m not sure. Whatever we’re doing starts today. He definitely said that.” He pauses. “He found the box.”

“He found it, or you left it out on purpose?” Kyungsoo’s tone makes it clear he already knows the answer. He yawns again, and Baekhyun can practically hear him rubbing his giant eyes. “Why don’t you just tell him what you want?”

“I did,” Baekhyun insists. “Sort of. He said today. So…Anyway, shut up, when are you going to tell Chanyeol?”

“I have to go, I’ll see you later. Do not make pancakes with Sprite.”

Baekhyun growls quietly at his phone as Kyungsoo disconnects, then looks up and jumps. He’s so startled to see Minseok standing in the kitchen doorway that he whacks his head on the cabinet behind him. He whines as he rubs his head, feeling his face flush. He stares down at his shoes rather than at a topless Minseok with award-winning bedhead. Feet eventually appear down between his legs, and he glances up some to see Minseok standing in front of him.

“Did you turn off my alarm?” he asks. He’s far too calm about it. Baekhyun wonders how fast he can run. He gives a small nod, then tries to save his own ass with a sweet smile.

“You looked tired,” he says. “I let you sleep. And I already handled work. You should thank me, actually.”

A thanks doesn’t follow, and Baekhyun tries again to get Minseok to lower his eyebrow. He reaches up and puts his hands in Minseok’s mess of hair for a moment before sliding his palms down, giving his cheeks a squeeze. He leans in for a kiss, only to nearly fall off the counter as Minseok steps back.

“Hey!”

“Don’t ‘hey’ me,” Minseok says with a shake of his head. “I told you I had to work and you did that anyway. I’m not rewarding you for not listening to me.”

“But—”

“I told you, we start today.” Minseok somehow manages to find a tiny container of milk in the back of the fridge and gives it a quick sniff. “I’m giving you what you want.”

Baekhyun starts to pout, but it’s barely got any real weight behind it. His heartbeat speeds up some as he thinks over Minseok’s words in his head, watching him start to mix up pancake batter from scratch. 

“So are you punishing me, then?” Baekhyun feels slightly foolish for how shaky he sounds.

“Can you make me some coffee before we get into this?”

Baekhyun stares for a moment, then smiles some and slides off of the counter to go grab the coffee that he only keeps around for Minseok’s sake.


	9. 09

Anticipation keeps Baekhyun from eating very much of the breakfast Minseok pulled together. Sitting and eating with him, talking about their friends and the possible romance budding there, makes Baekhyun feel even more nervous about what he’s sure will be coming. He can’t help but feel a pinch of fear. If Minseok basically ran away from him last time just from one night of venturing out of a very vanilla circle into something else, how would this ever actually work? It’s doomed, obviously, before the first safe word is even uttered.

By the time Minseok is finished with his coffee, Baekhyun has successfully thought himself out of wanting anything to do with the conversation on the horizon. He sits on his couch like a frowny lump, legs folded beneath himself as he tugs at the sleeves of his shirt.

“This is stupid,” he sighs. He shakes his head, waves his hands in front of him. “Nevermind. I don’t want this.”

Minseok blinks a couple of times. “Do you really not want this or are you just saying no before I can say it?”

“From this moment on, I’m banning you from knowing that much about me,” Baekhyun says.

Minseok smiles, leans back against the couch as he stretches his legs out. “According to Kyungsoo, we’re both adults, so we can talk about this, right?” he asks. “We have to talk in order to do it. So you can’t just retreat and then get mad about it later.”

“Oh God.” Baekhyun groans loudly and flops over to hide his face against the couch cushion. For a second, he hopes somehow a portal will open in the sofa and swallow him up to spare him the embarrassment of having to say things out loud to Minseok.

Somehow, saying them to people he has no actual emotional connection to is far easier than saying something to Minseok. Somewhere in his very confused brain, he’s aware that Minseok is right; they have to talk if they want to get anywhere And he knows, for the most part, what he’d like to happen. But his mouth can’t seem to move when it comes to making those requests. For once in his life, Baekhyun is actually speechless.

He jolts at the feeling of his phone underneath him vibrating, and after unlocking it, he laughs quietly.

_So, should we just text? Would that make you feel better?_

He turns his head a little to look at Minseok, sitting there poking at his phone as if he didn’t just text. Baekhyun still doesn’t sit up, but he does stop hiding his face as much as he pecks out a response.

_For now. Yes. Thank you._

Hearing Minseok’s text tone makes him laugh more, and he almost sort of starts to relax. He sits upright again, brushing his bangs out of his face, and clutches his phone unreasonably tight as he watches Minseok respond to him.

_So. Tell me what you want._

Baekhyun thinks that reply could take at least six texts to fully flesh out. He breathes a bit more shallowly as all sorts of unsavory thoughts tumble around in his head about Minseok immediately leaving again because of this. But it’s silly, he decides. He hasn’t left yet. And even when he left, he didn’t go very far. He takes a deep breath before deciding on what to say.

_First - are we dating?_

This time, it’s Minseok that laughs. He rolls his head back against the couch, eyes shifting over to watch Baekhyun.

“Would I really be willing to try this stuff with you otherwise?” he asks.

“You’re supposed to be texting me,” Baekhyun says.

Minseok smiles more at that before sitting up with a shake of his head to get back to his phone.

_Yes. We are dating. Are you keeping this as a legally binding agreement?_

_Yes I am. I don’t like blood so that’s out off the bat._

“That was never going to happen anyway,” Minseok laughs.

“Minseok!” Baekhyun whines some and whacks him with a pillow.

“I’m sorry, I’m not allowed to comment aloud? You’re really bossy for a sub.”

As soon as Minseok says the word, Baekhyun feels a tickle in his chest. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought of it before. Hell, the last person he’d fooled around with called him that with regularity. But something about the way it flows out of Minseok makes it feel different. It fits better, he thinks.

The warmth from that thought pushes Baekhyun into shifting closer to Minseok on the couch, smiling at him briefly before deciding to straddle his lap. Minseok’s hands cup his thighs, draw him closer, give a firm squeeze. Baekhyun bites his lower lip for a moment before leaning in for a kiss—which Minseok promptly rebuffs, leaning away.

“Still not out of trouble,” Minseok says, head lolled back against the couch again. He misses Baekhyun’s exaggerated pouting while staring at the ceiling.

“I thought this kind of thing wasn’t you,” Baekhyun says. “You’re falling in pretty easily considering you abandoned me before.”

“I did not abandon you,” Minseok sighs. “And I said I didn’t think it was me. At the time. And now I think otherwise.”

It does not make Baekhyun feel particularly thrilled to hear. His imagination immediately runs through the past girlfriends he’s aware of, trying to decide which of them Minseok’s explored this side of himself with.

“Stop,” Minseok says. “Stop wondering.”

“I wasn’t.”

“You weren’t talking so you were wondering and probably brooding,” Minseok says. “None of them. It didn’t feel right.”

That does make Baekhyun thrilled. He offers up a shy smile once Minseok looks at him again. “But it feels right with me.”

“Shut up. And how unfair is it that you’re going to sit there being pissy about me possibly doing dom stuff with some other girl when you have obviously been exploring this with someone that isn’t me?”

“It’s very unfair,” Baekhyun nods, though he’s started to be distracted by staring at Minseok’s chest. “But you already know that I’m a jerk.”

“Good point.” Minseok smiles a little, hips shifting beneath Baekhyun and making the younger man’s breath stop for a moment. “Tell me one thing you want, out loud, and I’ll let you kiss me.”

“I don’t like you at all.”

The laughing completely negates that statement, and Baekhyun rakes his hair back from his face as he tries to think of something to say that won’t make him die of embarrassment. Minseok’s hand is in his hair fairly soon after that, attempting to keep those bangs from flopping forward again with a gentle touch. Baekhyun smiles a little.

“I want you to take care of me,” he says softly. “I clearly don’t know how to take care of myself these days. You do it. You have to do it for work anyway, right? You already have to tell me where to go and when. I want that. More of that.” He pauses. “Please.”

Minseok’s eye search Baekhyun’s for a moment, and Baekhyun almost starts to say something else before it suddenly becomes all tongues and touching. He moans a bit at the suddenness of Minseok’s kiss and moves his hands down to his waist as Minseok starts to rub his thighs. Baekhyun’s head spins, floats into the clouds, at the feeling of Minseok’s growing hardness beneath him. He gently grinds his hips and manages a desperate squeak from Minseok, which just makes him intensify his kissing.

Baekhyun appreciates how easy it is to get lost in kissing Minseok, how it feels like they hadn’t even really broken up at all. His kissing blocks out all of the terribleness swimming around in his head since losing his father. It feels safe and nice and happy and peaceful. The thought that he’d maybe like to keep kissing him forever flits in and out in a split second, but registers long enough to be a new source of neuroses. Still, he ignores it long enough to focus on Minseok’s mouth and his hands and his abs and his hard-on between them. He reaches toward the waistband of Minseok’s pajama pants, sliding his hand in, and teases his fingertips along the length.

Just about the time that his phone starts ringing.

Baekhyun and Minseok both start to mutter obscenities, but he reaches for the phone anyway. It’s Chanyeol’s ringtone, and Chanyeol hardly ever makes use of the actual phone function of his phone. Baekhyun almost worries that it’s an emergency.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, cradling the phone against his shoulder. He stares at Minseok for a moment and almost laughs a little as Minseok’s hand starts to gently guide his own into stroking him.

“I was calling to ask you that,” Chanyeol says, voice heavy with concern. “Kyungsoo said you sounded weird.”

“I didn’t,” Baekhyun insists. “I was just asking about a recipe, that’s all. Can I call you b—”

“Why are you cooking?” Chanyeol asks. “Did you forget all the delivery phone numbers?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Do you want to go to lunch together in a couple of hours? Kyungsoo found a place.”

Minseok lets a moan slip, and Baekhyun attempts to stifle a laugh, reaching his free hand to place over Minseok’s mouth.

“Sure, okay, lunch. Text me the add—”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Baekhyun contemplates hanging up, but knows Chanyeol would just call back ninety times in a row to check on him. “You can talk to me. I know you and Kyungsoo are getting closer now but I think as best friend number one, I should know if something is going on. Is something going on?”

“Sort of? Honestly, Chanyeol, I really will call—”

This time, rather than Chanyeol jumping in, Minseok’s biting against his fingers cuts him off. He gasps some and hardly has time to process it before feeling Minseok’s erection pulsing more, pumping out sticky jets of cum onto Baekhyun’s wrist and forearm.

“Shit,” Baekhyun mumbles, staring down to watch Minseok twitching as he climaxes. He smiles a little at the sight of Minseok’s abs dancing around.

“Baekhyun—”

“Text me, I gotta go.”

Baekhyun does his best to hang up the phone with his chin before letting it drop onto the couch. He meets Minseok’s eyes, somewhat dazed but happy, and moves his hand away to kiss him again.

“You are absolutely not allowed to make fun of me again for coming too fast.”

“Noted,” Minseok nods, then goes in for another kiss.


	10. 10

With Baekhyun’s initial awkwardness lessened, he manages to get through a short conversation about what they both want without dying of embarrassment. Baekhyun has to admit he’s even more excited about this new attempt with Minseok now, even though a tiny voice in his head is absolutely certain that this is a wrong choice and Minseok will leave. A tinier, Kyungsoo-esque voice also in his head insists that he should just shut up and let things happen.

Given that it’s new territory for Minseok, and really, in a way, Baekhyun as well, there isn’t too much that either of them feels like trying. At least, not just yet. Baekhyun feels strangely okay with not giving Minseok any specifics, trusting him enough to know that the other won’t do something they both know Baekhyun isn’t capable of. In a way, it almost makes Baekhyun feel like they never actually broke up, going from zero to 100 literally overnight.

The new restaurant Kyungsoo found has decorations that look like they came from a 1980s garage sale. The walls feel sticky just from looking at them, and Baekhyun is almost positive he saw something small and furry moving in a corner.

“It’s an experience,” Kyungsoo insists after observing three very unconvinced faces. “It’s supposed to look trashy. But the reviews are great. Best burgers around, they say.”

“I think I need a shower.” Baekhyun frowns and scoots slightly closer to Minseok. Kyungsoo stares at him from across the table, eyebrow briefly twitching upwards before he smirks and looks back down to his menu.

“Frozen daiquiris!” Chanyeol calls out. “I’m going to get one of those. Kyungsoo, do you want one?” He waits for some kind of response. “Kyungsoo. Hey. Kyung—”

“No, I don’t want one,” Kyungsoo says.

“I’ll get two,” Chanyeol decides anyway. He grins at Baekhyun. “Did you get your pancakes made?”

Baekhyun hopes his face isn’t as red as it feels, as Kyungsoo lets out a quiet laugh.

“No,” he shakes his head.

“I could show you how to make them,” Chanyeol offers. “It’s pretty easy.” He looks at Minseok a moment, several drafts of several sentences being written and erased in his eyes before he speaks again. “Why aren’t you at work?”

“Lunch break,” Minseok says, and Kyungsoo laughs again.

“Is it weird yet?” Chanyeol asks. “Having Baekhyunnie as your boss?”

“No, it’s not weird yet.” Minseok shakes his head. “He barely does anything.”

“I asked you for water yesterday!” Baekhyun says. “I just don’t know what I’m doing.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Minseok nods. His hand creeps over to Baekhyun’s thigh, rubbing the inner part for a moment, and Baekhyun tries to keep a straight face. “It’s still all very new.”

“Lots of new things, it seems,” Kyungsoo comments. He stares straight at Minseok, but Minseok doesn’t waver even a little bit. Instead, he smiles.

“It seems that way,” he agrees. “How was your night?”

This time, it’s Baekhyun that laughs some as Kyungsoo momentarily tightens his mouth.

“It was good,” Kyungsoo says slowly.

“What’s happening right now?” Chanyeol asks, his attention shifting from one side of the booth to the other. “Did I miss a thing?”

Their server approaches before anyone can ignore Chanyeol’s question, and Baekhyun feels a teeny, tiny thrill from having Minseok pick his food for him. He shifts in place some and moves his hands into his lap to push Minseok’s hand further up. The second he touches him, though, Minseok slides his hand away. Baekhyun hesitates, but draws his hands back up to the table top, and Minseok’s hand returns to his thigh. It makes his breathing, and his jeans, a little tighter.

Chanyeol fills the air with rambling about their next show and maybe even getting paid more than a high five and a six pack, but Baekhyun only half-listens. His ears pound too hard with his heightened heartbeat as Minseok finally does work his hand higher, carefully squeezing and releasing Baekhyun’s bulge. Baekhyun squirms, trying to find the best way to sit for maximum touching and minimum attention, but all his wiggling does is make Kyungsoo stare more. He gives Kyungsoo a weak smile as he tries to settle down.

When their food arrives, Minseok moves his hand and Baekhyun lets out a whimper.

“What’s wrong?” Chanyeol asks, already cramming fries in his mouth. “You don’t like your food?”

“No, I just thought about something I saw on TV.” Lying on the fly never really suited Baekhyun; he needed at least five minutes’ prep. “Garlic fries, Yeollie? No one’s going to kiss you after that.”

Chanyeol gasps, which is the absolute wrong move to make with a mouth full of potato. He starts coughing, turning red, and Kyungsoo sighs before reaching to pat Chanyeol’s back. 

“Sorry,” Chanyeol croaks, waving his hands apologetically. “Sorry. I’m fine. Thank you.”

“Please try not to die,” Kyungsoo says with a roll of his eyes as Chanyeol steals Baekhyun’s water to chug. “Take a bite of your burger and I dare you to tell me it’s not the absolute best you’ve ever had.”

“You’re weirdly enthusiastic about beef,” Baekhyun teases. Still, he picks up half of the pre-sliced burger and takes a bite, then nods. “Fine. It’s really good. But this place is still skeevy.”

“Deliciously skeevy,” Kyungsoo says.

“Why somewhere new today?” Minseok asks.

“It seemed like a good idea,” Kyungsoo shrugs.

“Hey wait actually!” Chanyeol stops downing more fries to speak over them. “You’re not dressed up! Did you even go to work?”

Minseok stares, then smiles some. “I didn’t,” he says. “I stayed over at Baekhyun’s and we took the day off again.”

“Again?!” Chanyeol’s wide eyes shift to Kyungsoo in the hopes of having a partner in being shocked. Kyungsoo simply continues munching his food. “Oh. Okay. So that’s the thing I missed?” He lets out a soft cough, then sighs and gets up to go toward the bathroom. “Well, thank you for telling me, Baekhyun. I’ll be right back.”

“Chany—Son of…” Baekhyun sighs and runs a hand through his hair before glaring at Minseok for a moment. “Why did you do that?”

“What?” Minseok laughs some. “He’s fine. And he messes with me, I’m just messing back.”

Baekhyun grunts some and doesn’t look back to the booth, trailing Chanyeol toward the bathroom.


	11. 11

Against Baekhyun’s expectations, the restaurant bathroom is surprisingly clean. Bright. Almost kind of homey. He leans against the sink and stares down at Chanyeol’s giant feet beneath a stall door. He hasn’t said anything, even though they’re both aware of each other. The only sounds aside from the muffled music from the sound system in the dining area are Chanyeol’s occasional lingering coughs from his battle with the fries.  
Eventually, it gets to be too weird for Baekhyun.

“It’s not whatever you’re thinking,” he says, despite knowing it’s exactly what Chanyeol is thinking, plus a little more.

“I realize I look like a dummy, but I’m not actually dumb, Baekhyun.” It bothers Baekhyun how cold Chanyeol sounds. How detached. How utterly crushed.

“I don’t think you’re dumb,” Baekhyun says. “I just got wrapped up with…things…with Minseok. I would never, ever think you’re dumb.”

“You weren’t wrapped up enough to tell Kyungsoo.” Baekhyun looks confused, not that Chanyeol can see his face. Somehow, in the middle of panicking that somehow he’d offended Chanyeol by daring to find a boyfriend, he hadn’t thought that maybe it was just about a friendship thing. “You called him. You didn’t call me.”

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun says, and genuinely means. “I didn’t tell him anything. He’s just a good guesser. And I called him because when I think cooking, I think Kyungsoo, so…it just seemed like a good idea. It doesn’t mean anything. You’re still my number one best friend. Obviously, if I’m hanging out in a bathroom staring at your feet.”

Silence creeps in again, and Baekhyun feels even worse. It hadn’t ever gotten to a point where Chanyeol hid in a bathroom before, but over the last year or so, with meeting and absorbing Kyungsoo into their former trio, it became obvious that Chanyeol was uncomfortable with how close Baekhyun and Kyungsoo got, and how quickly it had happened. But it wasn’t as if Baekhyun set out to make new friends; he hadn’t even wanted much to do with Chanyeol’s new buddy. It was only after accidentally both showing up too early to a movie and having to wait for the others together that they even realized they had anything in common. Somehow, shortness and snark bound them and the rest filled itself in naturally.

A flash of anger hits Baekhyun at the thought of Chanyeol daring to be this jealous, considering he’d been left out of things tons of times with Chanyeol being so excited about a new friend and forgetting to invite him along to spontaneous hangouts. And the fact that he’s stuck in this bathroom trying to soothe this giant baby instead of sitting with his new boyfriend makes him even more annoyed.

He walks over and kicks the stall door. As if somehow, the door might pass it on to Chanyeol.

“Fine,” he says. “Don’t talk to me, then. I’m trying here. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about me and Minseok but it’s not like you said anything about you and Kyungsoo making out. And it hasn’t even been a day yet so it’s not like I was hiding something for months. So you just sit in there and pout. I’m going home and you can call me when you’re ready to quit being a dick.”

On the way home, Baekhyun carries over the silent treatment to Minseok as well, that anger bubbling over into being annoyed again about Minseok’s teasing that set the whole thing off. Minseok, for the vast majority of the drive home, lets Baekhyun sit quietly without prodding. Several blocks from his apartment, he glances over.

“Did we really have to leave?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“Are you mad at me, too?”

“Yes.”

“You realize you’re being kind of a brat right now, right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. As long as we’re on the same page.”

Baekhyun wants to ask why they’re going to Minseok’s place and not his own, but he’s boxed himself into a position of not really being able to question more or he’d be breaking his own don’t-talk-to-Minseok-or-Chanyeol resolve. Instead, he slams the car door once Minseok parks, stomping along behind him with a scowl.

Minseok’s apartment sits on the edge of town, in a place that Baekhyun’s father would call the bad side of town. Nothing particularly bad has ever happened to Baekhyun there, but it definitely does seem rather sketchy from time to time. The apartment is small and dim, with only one window that doesn’t even bring in any sun. Complaining about the place does little good considering Minseok has lived there since he was seventeen and showed no interest in moving anytime soon. Baekhyun had given up trying to help him into a new place years ago.

Even with the small size, Minseok’s done the best he can to maximize his space. It’s almost as if no one actually lives there with as few personal touches are actually around. He keeps the apartment neat and minimal, which is why Baekhyun notices rather immediately that the living room is an actual mess. Several changes of clothes litter the second-hand sofa, and an empty soda can rests in place off of a coaster.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “What happened?” he asks. He starts folding up the clothes and ignoring the fact that he doesn’t even fold his own at home.

“I got busy.”

Baekhyun hates how noncommittal both the answer and Minseok’s tone are. He watches Minseok drift into the kitchen slash dining room, grabbing a couple of beers from the fridge. Ignoring Minseok is much harder than ignoring Chanyeol, and Baekhyun sighs.

“I just don’t want you picking on him,” he says.

“He’s an adult, he can handle it.” Minseok holds a can out to Baekhyun, who snatches it with a glare. “That’s honestly not threatening at all. You look like a puppy trying to be tough.”

“Puppies have sharp teeth,” Baekhyun points out, starting a little laundry stack on the edge of the coffee table. “If I can’t be threatening with a look, I can definitely bite.”

“I would like that.”

Baekhyun drops his beer pretty much immediately. Luckily, he hadn’t bothered opening it yet.

Minseok smiles some and grabs the stack of folded clothes to take them to his hamper. “I’m sorry, was that too much?”

“I’m still mad at you.”

An actual answer feels impossible, especially since he still wants to be salty about Minseok’s teasing and Chanyeol’s poutiness. He picks up the can and goes to put it back in the fridge, in a far corner to keep from accidentally opening it anytime soon. The inside of Minseok’s fridge is just as organized as the rest of the apartment normally is.

“Come to my room!” Minseok calls out. Baekhyun hustles his way straight down the hall without a second thought.


	12. 12

Unlike Baekhyun’s room—which shifted over the years alongside every whim of a new obsession—Minseok’s room hasn’t changed since he moved in. The bare minimum amount of mahogany furniture. A full bookshelf. Black bedsheets. A giant wall-sized painting of a seascape across from the bed. He’d mentioned once that he fell in love with the painting as a kid, wanting to live within the swirls of black and blue on the edge of a cliff, and that it had to be his first grown-up art purchase. Baekhyun never asked for more details.

Minseok stands near his desk, fiddling with his laptop for a moment. At some point between walking away and Baekhyun running to the room, he’d managed to lose his shirt. Baekhyun stares at his back for a while, lean and well-defined, and he has trouble actually thinking of something to say. At this point, with anyone else, he’d make some kind of quip about dissolving fabric or joke about whatever filthy things they were about to get up to, but with Minseok, there’s nothing. He can only stare.

A rather soothing R&B melody wraps around them from the bluetooth speaker connected to Minseok’s laptop, and Baekhyun smiles some that he’s considerate enough to give them some background music. Minseok moves away from his desk and toward Baekhyun, and Baekhyun is absolutely certain he’s going to vomit from anticipation.

Shivers creep up his back as Minseok cups his hands on the sides of Baekhyun’s neck. He doesn’t lean in for a kiss and Baekhyun momentarily feels strange about it. No one’s ever looked at him, really looked at him, for such an extended time and he starts to feel jittery about it. But he doesn’t want Minseok to think he can’t deal, and so he doesn’t break the gaze.

“I’m sorry about Chanyeol,” he says. His voice rolls, almost melts into the music with how smooth and low it sounds.

“It’s okay.”

“If it stops you from making that face again, I’ll try to not be a dick to him, no matter how much he gets on my nerves.”

Baekhyun’s mouth twitches a bit. “Thank you,” he nods a little, starting to feel a warmth in him spread from Minseok’s thumbs rubbing his neck. It’s lulled him into almost a daze; he’s sure he’d do anything Minseok asked if he just kept touching him like that.

“I’m kind of glad we left, anyway,” Minseok admits with a crooked smile. “Your sad little pouting about the decor was really hard to resist.”

“You don’t have to resist,” Baekhyun says, the words practically tripping over themselves with his enthusiasm. He takes another half step closer. “Please don’t resist.”

Minseok chuckles, then finally, carefully, pulls Baekhyun forward for a gentle kiss. It feels different, to Baekhyun, from other kisses with other people. He feels this kiss swimming around inside of him, swelling up and overtaking anything else he could possibly think of. For now, there’s nothing but Minseok’s gentle exhales against his face and the taste of stolen frozen green apple daiquiri sips.

Baekhyun’s hands start to move toward Minseok’s zipper, but Minseok shifts his hips back some before Baekhyun can start to undress him. He whines some, but manages to keep himself from trying again. He smiles as Minseok hands move from his neck to his hair, pulling enough that there’s a small sting but not enough to be actually painful. 

He walks Baekhyun backwards against the bed and falls against him, careful not to squish him.

“You’re okay?” Minseok murmurs, lips pressed to Baekhyun’s collarbone. Baekhyun hums in response; forming actual words might be too much for him in the moment as Minseok sucks against his skin hard enough that he’s sure there’ll be a mark tomorrow. He wonders how he’ll explain it to Chanyeol.

And then the thoughts of that giant stupid baby come flooding back, and with it, all the anger at him and at Minseok. Minseok clearly feels the difference, as he stops his hands from roaming and pushes himself back.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Baekhyun shakes his head, refuses to meet Minseok’s eyes. “Sorry. Keep going please.”

“You are the worst puppy,” Minseok groans.

“I would just really rather not waste this hard-on, if you don’t mind, so…”

Minseok gives him a rather pointed look, to which Baekhyun attempts to simply grin his way out of potential trouble. It doesn’t work. Rather than undress Baekhyun the rest of the way, Minseok slides off of the bed and over to his desk. The music stops, and instead, Minseok pulls up a video streaming site to start watching puppies fighting over a frisbee.

Baekhyun groans and covers his face with his hands. Shit shit shit. This is also somehow Chanyeol’s fault. 

“Minseok. I’m sorry,” he huffs. Minseok doesn’t turn. The puppy whining gets louder. “I’m just really stressed out. With this whole job thing and being your boss and then Chanyeol’s a dumbass…Please come back.”

“I really don’t want to talk about Chanyeol anymore.”

“Done. Stricken from the record. Chan-who? What-yeol? Come on, let’s go.”

Baekhyun recognizes the absurdity of how overeager he is, but for once he doesn’t really care. It hadn’t happened anytime recently that he’d been so enthusiastic about fooling around with someone. Not since their week together, and not since Evil Ex-Girlfriend freshman year of college before that. Somehow, in his hormone-clouded brain, memories of both meld together and all Baekhyun can imagine is being felt up by both of them at the same time. Her soft, sweet lips dragging along his chest. Minseok’s strong hands exploring his thighs…

He gets off the bed and walks to Minseok’s desk and, after a deep, shaky breath, kneels down beside him. He places his chin against Minseok’s knee and turns his big shiny eyes up to him. His nerves—and probably also the hormones—make him shake; it isn’t as though he’d ever done something like this to anyone else before, or ever felt like it, but it seems appropriate.

Minseok’s opposite leg bounces some and Baekhyun feels a surge in his gut at breaking Minseok’s resolve. He waits for Minseok to catch his eye before pouting more and making his eyes as huge as possible.

“Please.”

Beneath his chin, Baekhyun can feel Minseok shiver.


	13. 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So heeey, this chapter's got some sexin' so if that's not your thing you can totally safely skip it. And for the curious, I may or may not have had this on repeat.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFCi-DnEDHM

Baekhyun can hardly believe how easy it was to get a rise out of Minseok both literally and figuratively with just that simple gesture. The warmth in his gut grows again, from Minseok guiding him back to the bed, undressing him, kissing him as if he literally can’t not kiss him.  
The lack of music isn’t even bothersome this time, and Baekhyun manages a quiet moan as Minseok moves to kiss along his inner thigh.

“Fuck, Minseok—”

“No talking,” Minseok mumbles. “Keep quiet. Not a peep.” That shiver comes creeping back, and Baekhyun keeps his mouth shut. 

He shifts to push himself up on his elbows partially, looking down to watch Minseok slip from his thigh to his member. Minseok’s mouth against him feels like a perfect fit that Baekhyun never wants to take off. He bites his lip, determined to keep his normally noisy antics completely silent. Somewhere in the interim of the last time Minseok blew him and now, he gained a few levels in his technique. Baekhyun doesn’t remember Minseok being anywhere near as enthusiastic, or skilled. Minseok certainly never deep throated him.

His hands press against his face more as Minseok laps his tongue against him, and an attempt to shift his hips up is thwarted by Minseok pushing his hips back down again. Baekhyun can hardly breathe, he’s so intoxicated by the attention Minseok’s showing him. He wants to jerk his hips forward to somehow work himself deeper into Minseok’s cozy mouth but he wants to actually follow his one simple instruction just a tiny bit more.

Just as he’s preparing for the internal fireworks show that comes along with getting off, Minseok pulls back. Moves away. Stops all contact. And Baekhyun fails at keeping quiet. He lets out a whine and sits up again to look at Minseok with expectant eyes. He wants to ask why he stopped, but he can’t quite bring himself to form the words.

Minseok smiles at him gently, then moves up again to kiss just behind Baekhyun’s ear.

“How far do you want to go?” he purrs, nuzzling against the younger man’s neck. When Baekhyun doesn’t answer, he laughs some. “You’re good at this. You can answer.”

“I don’t have an answer, I just really want to come,” Baekhyun shudders. Minseok’s fingertips dance along Baekhyun’s side as he makes a few gentle thrusts against Baekhyun’s hip. “You’re making it worse!”

“So you’d be okay with making love, then?”

Something about the way the phrase curls around Baekhyun’s ears makes it seem so much sexier than his own fantasies of just plain old-fashioned fucking. He nods a little, and Minseok’s smile grows before he moves again. Baekhyun sits up and stares down at his lap for a moment before shifting his attention to watch Minseok searching through a drawer.

“Is this how fast you normally—”

“Nope. We’re not doing that right now,” Minseok speaks over him. “Talking revoked again.”

Baekhyun sighs, but his annoyance disappears as Minseok crashes against him again. This kiss feels rougher, more urgent, and Baekhyun appreciates how much Minseok seems to need him with that kiss. How much he seems to have missed him. He only jolts a little bit at the feel of Minseok’s fingers pressing against him and how chilly the lube is, but the pressure makes him kiss Minseok with even more urgency. He needs this, he’s sure, or he will actually die.

By the time Minseok’s fingers are replaced by his member, Baekhyun thinks he might be too nervous about this to actually keep going. He bites his lip again to keep quiet, and Minseok pauses.

“You’re still okay?” he pants. The way his hair falls down into Baekhyun’s face makes Baekhyun’s heart do quadruple-time. Baekhyun nods, and Minseok pushes just a bit more again.

In his fantasies, sex with Minseok is always fast. Frantic. So to have Minseok on top of him, have his hand gripping one thigh while the other arm holds himself up, have him moving so painfully slowly that he thinks he might fall apart, feels different to Baekhyun. It’s kind of better. He enjoys every drag of Minseok’s erection in him, each slow push and pull and every squeeze of his thigh. Minseok’s kisses are just as deliberate, nudging Baekhyun’s lips apart with a gentleness that Baekhyun honestly didn’t think Minseok had in him. It isn’t until it happens that Baekhyun realizes how much he needs this.

“Okay, quiet you is weird,” Minseok laughs softly, his hand shifting from the side of Baekhyun’s head to within his hair. “No words but I want to hear how much you like this.”

And that’s all Baekhyun needs to hear. He barely waits half a second before finally letting out the moan that’s been trapped in his throat. He whines at every pull, grunts at every push, claws at Minseok’s back as if he hadn’t gotten laid in decades. He briefly considers claiming all the other times before this as practice sessions that don’t count. Everything before this feels like practice. His nails dig in deeper.

Baekhyun’s moans and mews and whimpers kill Minseok’s resolve to keep things slow, and his hips work a bit faster as he kisses Baekhyun’s jaw. His thrusts, Baekhyun’s noises, the hair pulling—it all syncs up and swells and mashes together until it reaches a crescendo. It hadn’t ever happened before that Baekhyun got off before a partner, and yet before he can really stop himself, he feels the sticky sprays of come trapping him and Minseok together. Minseok smiles as they kiss and starts to pump faster, eventually letting out a strangled yell as he fills the condom.

For a few minutes, he’s dead weight on top of Baekhyun, their labored breathing as synced as their moans had been. Eventually, Minseok uses wobbly arms to push himself off of Baekhyun.

“We should’ve done that years ago,” he says as he reaches to take off the condom.

Baekhyun lets his head loll over to the side to give Minseok an I-told-you-so look, but he still doesn’t actually say it. Minseok looks back at him, then laughs.  
“You can talk now.”

“You’re a fucking idiot, I told you years ago that we should be boning each other like crazy and you were all, ‘Oh no let’s take things slow!’ and meanwhile your dick’s in my mouth which isn’t slow at all, PS—”

Minseok manages, in the midst of his laughing fit, to reach over and clamp his hand over Baekhyun’s mouth. Baekhyun smiles beneath it, then shifts to curl up against Minseok. He murmurs something against that hand which sounds vaguely like olive juice, but he doesn’t dare repeat the actual words when Minseok asks.


	14. 14

“I have literally never once wanted to know anything about Minseok’s penis, actually.” Kyungsoo’s face scrunches in disgust at even the mere thought of it, and Baekhyun laughs.

With his resolve to continue ignoring Chanyeol until the giant dumb baby apologizes, he’s out to lunch with Kyungsoo while Minseok is at work. It’s been two whole days of Chanyeol-free, Minseok-full time, and each of those gives Baekhyun a different kind of ache. As an actual terrible boss, he calls Minseok out of work again the following day in order to attempt to make up for all the fucks they missed and somehow it still didn’t seem like enough. He’s bruised and covered in hickeys and Kyungsoo wondered if he’d caught the mumps with all the splotches on him.

Normally, after such a statement about a previous night’s conquest, Baekhyun would continue to harass Kyungsoo—and Chanyeol—with all the explicit details, curves, birthmarks and all. But this time, beyond the laughter, Baekhyun actually does change the subject.

“I feel better,” he admits. “And maybe that sounds stupid, but…”

“It doesn’t sound stupid.” Kyungsoo most often of any of them lays out facts without any kind of sugarcoating or babying, and so when he says this, Baekhyun wholeheartedly believes him. “You’ve had a rough year. He makes you look like an actual heart eyes emoji.”

“I don’t look like…Do I really look like that?”

“Yes,” Kyungsoo nods, sipping his drink. “But not in a bad way. You’ve been making heart eyes at him ever since I’ve been around, and I assume at least since that one wacky week that neither of you will let go of.”

“Well it’s not my f—Wait what? Rewind, neither of us?” Kyungsoo gives a disinterested shrug. “What has he said to you?”

The clatter of the restaurant fills in the air between the time Baekhyun quiets down and the time Kyungsoo decides to answer.

“He was just upset, I guess, afterwards,” Kyungsoo shrugs. “I don’t know specifics. I wasn’t there.”

“Oh right.” Baekhyun frowns. Somehow his brain retroactively fitted Kyungsoo into every past major life event among the four—well, three—of them. It seemed wrong that he only wandered onto the scene a year ago. “What did he tell you though? You know something.”

“I know I’m glad you two finally un-stupided yourself and are giving it another go,” Kyungsoo says. “Even if it means you and Chanyeol are going to be idiots to each other.”

The enthusiasm Baekhyun wanted to share with Kyungsoo shrivels a little at that, and he twists his mouth into a frown. Kyungsoo, weirdly intuitive, almost felt like a walking conscience sometimes. It was annoying. 

“How’s he doing?” Baekhyun keeps his voice as flat and disinterested as he can manage.

“I’m not going to tell you that.”

“Ugh, you’re the actual worst,” Baekhyun whines, rolling his eyes skyward. “So tell me how long you two have been doing the horizontal mambo, then.”

“No one says that anymore, Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo says. “And we haven’t done anything beyond kissing. He’s definitely not ready and I’m definitely not pushing.”

“Well, good for you.”

Baekhyun can’t tell if his voice is coated with envy, sarcasm, or some amalgam of both, and he has no real desire to work that out at the moment.

Chanyeol, number one best friend, was also an occasional kissing practice partner off and on throughout the years, until Minseok waltzed into their lives. When Baekhyun had questions about whether or not he was attracted to men, Chanyeol volunteered himself as a test subject. So with Chanyeol questioning the same, it stung, however minorly, that Kyungsoo is the object of his affection instead.

And then Baekhyun realizes that is most definitely envy, and he is most definitely uncomfortable.

“You should tell him you have a crush on him,” Baekhyun says.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t tell him that?”

“I don’t have a crush on him,” Baekhyun insists. “I…Hm.”

“You two are weirdly obsessed with each other to the point of an unnatural possessiveness despite not actually wanting each other, for the most part. And yet you don’t want each other to belong to someone else.”

Baekhyun, in that moment, genuinely hates Kyungsoo.

“I get it,” Kyungsoo continues. “And I’m not judging. But it’s pretty obvious, and when I say he’s not ready, I mean he’s still trying to figure out whether or not he wants to make a grand declaration of love to you or if he’s just being silly. And you already know you don’t love him like that because of the heart eyes for Minseok. So…When he figures his feelings out, then we can talk.”

“…How are you only twenty-one?”

Kyungsoo’s smirk blossoms into an actual smile. 

“You picked the wrong one of us, y’know,” Baekhyun states. “I’m far cuter.”

“You’re also amazingly irritating,” Kyungsoo says. “We would kill each other.”

“But the hate sex would be amazing.”

They exchange a look before starting to laugh, and Baekhyun feels even better than he had walking in. It’s nice, in a weird way, to have a friend that’s just as cynical and biting with sarcasm. Not that Chanyeol isn’t lovely; sometimes, though, he was just too damned happy. And with their new addition, it gave Baekhyun someone to talk to about Chanyeol other than Chanyeol.

“I really like him,” Kyungsoo says after a few beats in a way that gives Baekhyun pause. Not that this kid is never serious; half the time, he’s too serious. But concerning feelings, and especially romantic feelings, he was more guarded than royalty. For him to say this feels like some kind of shift in their relationship that Baekhyun didn’t even realize was happening.

“Well…I think he really likes you too,” Baekhyun nods.

Kyungsoo smiles gently, then starts to talk about a movie they’d watched the other night. Baekhyun wants to listen, honestly he does, but all he can think about is Chanyeol being maybe right about being pushed off in favor of Kyungsoo. The idea of having to apologize first isn’t one he cares to entertain, and so he boxes it up and puts it way, way in the back of his head.


	15. 15

The senior vice president of Baekhyun’s company has an unconvincing toupee and breath that smells like cat food. He’s too close to Baekhyun for comfort but there’s hardly anywhere for Baekhyun to go to get away from him. It’s Monday, and it’s before 9am, and Baekhyun just wants to be at home doing anything but sitting in this cramped meeting listening to Catfood Badhair explain shares to him.

There’s rumblings about mergers and shareholders and quarterly earnings and it all sounds like one of those high-pitched squeals you hear when doctors check your ears to make sure they work. He’s sure that this is important, but no matter how hard he tries to focus, all he hears is the squealing. None of it makes sense. Not even after a billion nights with Minseok trying to learn more about the business. It might have to do with the fact that during those nights, he wasn’t listening to Minseok, either, and was more focused on an awkward mixture of mourning his father and wanting to jump Minseok. But that’s neither here nor there.

Baekhyun considers the fact that he graduated ninth in his class without opening a single textbook one of his crowning achievements, so he decides his ability to bluff needs to be dusted off and pulled on again. He makes a quick speech about morale and satisfying the shareholders, and from the others’ faces, he’s not making too much of an ass of himself. They almost sort of look impressed. He smiles.

When the meeting is over, he grins his way toward Minseok’s desk to tell him about his first grownup business decision. Before he can get the words out, his mood melts down into confusion. Minseok looks disheveled, or at least by Minseok standards. He hasn’t gelled his hair, and it flops sadly against his hand holding his forehead.

“No, it’s fine,” he sighs into the phone. “I’ll handle it. I said I’ve got it.” His voice gets louder. Meaner. Baekhyun almost takes a step back. “I have to go. Don’t call me at work.”

He drops the phone and it barely makes it into the cradle. His hands slide down his face as he groans, then pushes his hair back out of his face. Baekhyun can’t quite think of a thing to say, or how to react, and so he continues to stand in the door of the office looking dumbfounded. When Minseok looks up to see him, he jumps, which just startles Baekhyun as well.

“Do you need something?” Minseok asks. Words still haven’t found their way back to Baekhyun. “Is everything okay? What’s wrong?”

“I feel like maybe I should ask you that?”

Baekhyun swears he can practically hear himself blinking in the silence that follows. Minseok sighs and gets up, walking closer to Baekhyun. Instead of kissing him, which Baekhyun kind of expects, he shuts the door behind him. They’re close, with Minseok keeping his hand on the door handle, and Baekhyun leans back against the door.

“My idiot sister.”

“Oh.”

It’s been an unspoken policy among them that no one ask Minseok about his sister without expressly being informed that asking is acceptable, and no one has been given that kind of permission in the eight years they’ve known each other. In that time, he’s spoken of her maybe twice that Baekhyun can remember. Once during Minseok’s eighteenth birthday celebrations when he got so drunk he tried to fight a chipmunk in the park, and again just after Baekhyun’s father’s death. This idiot sister never meant good news, and it made Baekhyun decide to shelve his own for now.

Minseok sighs again before putting his arms around Baekhyun’s shoulders, hugging him tightly. At first, Baekhyun isn’t quite sure what to do with that; hugs like this aren’t unfamiliar, but they normally come from Chanyeol. Minseok prefers quick side-hugs to all-consuming full-frontal bear hugs. It takes Baekhyun a full thirty seconds to decide to hug him back, completely baffled by the fact that they’re even still hugging for that long.

“Should you take the day off?” Baekhyun asks, his words nearly lost among Minseok’s black suit jacket lapel.

“I don’t have any sick days left,” Minseok says. “I’m fine. Just hug me for a little bit longer.”

Curiosity pounds at Baekhyun’s teeth and threatens to throw the policy out the window. Instead, he swallows it back down and reaches up to put his fingers in Minseok’s hair, gently massaging his scalp.

“How was the meeting?” Minseok asks eventually as he continues clinging.

“Good, I think,” Baekhyun says. “I said something vaguely motivating and if we gave out gold stars, I’d probably get one.”

“Do you want a gold star?” Minseok laughs some.

Baekhyun smiles. “I do, actually,” he says. “I should get stars for things. ‘Yay, Baekhyun, you didn’t get your lunch on your tie!’ ‘Hooray! You kept your mouth shut while being pound—”

“Shut up,” Minseok laughs more. It warms Baekhyun some that he seems distracted from whatever that phone call was about. “Okay. I will set you up with a reward board with stickers. You’re such a little kid.”

“No, I’m just adorably childlike,” Baekhyun says. He leans back a few inches and kisses Minseok’s forehead. “I’m not going to ask, but…if you wanted to tell me, I’ll listen.”

“I appreciate that.”

He pats Baekhyun’s cheek and walks back toward his desk, and Baekhyun is momentarily gutted. That was supposed to be the moment that he blurts all of his deep secrets. That wasn’t supposed to be him walking away.

Minseok watches him, brow knitted. “What?”

“Oh. I just thought you would tell me.”

“Why would you not just ask, then?” Minseok closes his laptop, leans back in his chair. Baekhyun briefly forgets that he’s the boss. At least in the professional sense.

“Because we don’t ask about your sister,” Baekhyun says. “You always look…sad.”

“What do you want to do tonight? Should we see if Kyungsoo’s busy?”

“What did your sister want?”

The way Minseok’s face morphs from anger to melancholy before settling on annoyance makes Baekhyun feel guilty for finally just asking.

“She needs more money,” Minseok says.

“More?”

“I make a lot of money being your dad’s assistant,” Minseok says. “Well. Your assistant now. Do you really think I’d stay in that shit-ass apartment on this salary?”

“…Yes.”

“I give a decent amount of my money to her,” Minseok explains. “She’s kind of a mess. So, it just feels more logical to have two kind of poor people instead of one comfortably middle-class person and one destitute person. Just giving her the money works better than having her live with me. Tried that, very very briefly. She sold my bass to some loser.” He sighs, pushes his hair back again. “I would tell her to piss off but it’s not like she’s got anyone else. Our parents cut her off last year. So it’s either I help her out from time to time or she does something stupid for money.”

“Oh.” It sounds stupid as soon as Baekhyun says it, but he can’t think of anything else to say. He frowns, then walks over and hugs Minseok’s head to his waist. “You’re a good person. You could just move in with me. You complain about me being in that house alone, so that’d fix that.”

“We just started dating five days ago.”

“Aww, you’re keeping track,” Baekhyun coos, which earns him a playful punch to the gut. “And I’m not suggesting it as a…romantic thing. We’ve been friends for almost a decade. I’m doing this as Baekhyun-your-friend and not Baekhyun-your-personal-slave-slash-boss.”

“Oh jeez, don’t call yourself my slave,” Minseok groans. “I’ll think about it.”

“Good. Do we have time to fool around before I have somewhere to be?”

Minseok laughs. “Get out of my office.”


	16. 16

It takes another week and a half before one of them caves. Chanyeol, king of the random texts, sends Baekhyun a picture of a sweet potato he came across in the grocery store that looks like an overly grumpy old man, labeling it as their sixth grade science teacher. It’s always that way with Chanyeol, with fighting with Chanyeol. Formal apologies feel awkward and fake, and so one of them simply does or says something that’s too ridiculous to ignore. Fight over, relationship back on course. Baekhyun wonders if that’s healthy, not talking directly about their issues, but it’s worked for fifteen years so he figures it’s best not to mess with a proven formula.

They find themselves at their usual place, the time creeping up on midnight. It’s difficult to remember the last time they’d done anything as a duo, and Baekhyun tries not to feel awkward about it.

Chanyeol’s eyes look puffy and tired. He’s lost some weight in his face—or at least, Baekhyun thinks maybe he has somehow over the course of just two weeks. His hoodie swallows him and only lets his slender face poke through. Not that Baekhyun can see much of his face beneath the brim of Chanyeol’s snapback.

“You look like shit,” Baekhyun says.

“I’ve been writing a lot,” Chanyeol shrugs. “Can’t sleep. You look like you got in a fight with an octopus.”

Baekhyun brings his hand up to his neck for a moment and lets out a tiny laugh. “Minseok is handsy,” he says cautiously.

“Mouthsy,” Chanyeol scoffs.

“Right. That. Look, Yeollie…” He thinks for a moment back to Kyungsoo’s words and how they’d resonated. “I don’t want this to be awkward. I don’t want us to avoid each other just because I have a boyfriend. I’m sorry about putting Kyungsoo ahead of you. It’s just that some things are easier to talk to to him than they are you. And those things are happening more often lately.”

“Have you tried?” Baekhyun gives him a lost look. “Talking to me. Have you tried saying these things you’ve randomly decided you can’t tell me? Or did you just assume you couldn’t say anything to me?”

“…The second one.”

“So tell me a thing now. I’m all ears.”

“I hate you a little bit more every single time you make that joke,” Baekhyun shakes his head. He takes a deep breath. And then another. And a third for good measure. “I’ve been dabbling into sub territory with Minseok. And I like it…like, a lot.” This time, it’s Chanyeol who stares blankly. “I’m not going to tell you. You have a phone, look it up.”

Chanyeol lets out a hmph and takes his hands from his hoodie pocket to unlock his phone. He pecks at the screen, glancing to Baekhyun suspiciously after nearly every letter before he stares at the search results before him. Baekhyun tries not to laugh too loudly as Chanyeol looks simultaneously shocked and aroused.

“I don’t think I’m comfortable knowing this.” Chanyeol shakes his head and puts his phone down as if it somehow became radioactive. It lasts for approximately three seconds, though, as he unlocks the screen again. “You really do all of this?”

“Well no, probably not,” Baekhyun says. “There’s a lot to it. And it’s not like he ties me to the rafters and beats me with a whip—”

“You don’t even have rafters.”

“—It’s just…little things, for now. He picks my food, my clothes, we have a bedtime…”

“You’re not calling him Daddy, are you?” Chanyeol looks as if he just swallowed an entire bushel of lemons.

Baekhyun starts to feel a bit warm, but given his friend’s discomfort, he laughs it off. “No,” he shakes his head. “But it would be adorable if I did. I mean look at me.”

“I can’t look at either of you now,” Chanyeol mumbles. He’s still scrolling through something on his phone. “If he picks your food, then how are you eating now?”

“We all have this menu memorized by now,” Baekhyun says. “I asked what to order and he told me. So that’s what I got.”

“This is wild.” His mouth shifts to one side and he tilts both his head and his phone for a moment. “So, what, you need permission for everything? Isn’t that weird?”

“Not everything,” Baekhyun says. “And it’s…comforting.” He mulls the word over for a moment before smiling. Comforting is definitely the best word for how he feels when Minseok brushes his hair before bed. “It’s like I know he’ll take care of me all the time so even when I’m falling apart—” A sadness hits him at that. Chanyeol looks up from his phone to see what happened to the rest of that sentence.

“Are you falling apart?” he asks.

Baekhyun doesn’t answer. He’s stuck in a loop in his head, jumping from finding his father dead in his favorite chair to the meeting post-funeral with Minseok’s firm hand to all the nights he’d told everyone he was fine while in the midst of dry-heaving from crying so hard alone in his home. He was falling apart. He’d been falling apart for almost seven months now.

He finds he’s the one who can’t look at Chanyeol now, giving him a tiny nod of affirmation. So he doesn’t see Chanyeol approaching but certainly feels his long arms squeezing him tightly. He feels Chanyeol’s poky chin rest atop his head. He feels Chanyeol’s heart beating against his back. This is comforting, too.

“Anyway, it’s nice,” he says eventually. His voice cracks some and it takes a moment for him to realize that at some point, he’d decided to start crying. He sniffles and clears his throat. “And I think I’m wearing him down about moving in with me.”

“Byun Baekhyun, professional zero-to-one-hundred,” Chanyeol teases. “It hasn’t even been a month.”

“I know but…I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

Whatever load of bricks was tied around Baekhyun’s neck lightens by at least two pounds with the words. Chanyeol rubs his shoulder some and tilts his head to put his cheek, rather than chin, to Baekhyun’s head.

“So tell me more about this sub business,” Chanyeol says.

“Ew no, you’re going to get a boner on my back and I’ll have to punch you.” Baekhyun laughs and makes a note to buy Chanyeol something nice for the distraction. “How are things with you and Kyungsoo? He won’t tell me anything.”

“I’m thinking of asking him out,” Chanyeol admits. “But I’m scared he’ll punch me. You two really like punching. It’s like you’re one person. But…you got all the happy bits and he got all the angry bits.”

“Fair assessment,” Baekhyun nods. “Ask him out. You two are cute together.”

“You won’t be upset?”

“No,” Baekhyun says without even having to lie. “You’re still mine. I’m just going to lease you to him.”

“Thank you, Master.”

Baekhyun laughs even harder.


	17. 17

Baekhyun’s arms are literally two seconds away from falling off. He puts down the last box with a whine before carefully lying down on his living room floor, sprawling his limbs out.

It took another two weeks of needling before he finally got the yes he was after, and move-in day came three days later. Baekhyun had worked hard to get rid of everything he felt he no longer needed to make room for Minseok, even if Minseok didn’t really have that much stuff. It was a decent enough excuse to do some spring cleaning anyway, several months early. 

His bandanna kept sweat from rolling into his eyes, but the fan overhead cooled it almost uncomfortably. Minseok steps over him to place a box on top of Baekhyun’s stack, then over him again to go to the fridge for some water. He’d become even better at tuning out Baekhyun’s whining than he was before they started dating now that he heard it even more often. Baekhyun was most displeased by this.

“I deserve all the treats for this,” he switches to verbal whining rather than his constant sad humming. “I’m dying. This is your fault.”

“You’re dangerously close to getting your talking privileges taken. Again.” Minseok sips his water before walking back over, squatting down beside him and holding out the water bottle. “Drink. Stop complaining about having to carry three whole boxes.”

“Three whole boxes up two flights of stairs,” Baekhyun pouts as he pushes himself upright to take the water. “My arms aren’t built for this.”

“I should’ve gotten Yixing’s help,” Minseok sighs as he stands again. “You are so whiny.”

Baekhyun’s skin prickles at the mention of that name, but he holds his tongue for fear of getting privileges revoked. It isn’t as though he hates Yixing, but that guy always seemed so intimidating. It didn’t help matters much that they’d once accidentally made out for two hours.

Twice.

Technically three times but neither of them ever cares to acknowledge the third time.

“I did good, I get treat. That’s how this works,” he insists to stop himself from thinking about Yixing further.

Fortunately for him, his cuteness effectively whittles Minseok’s sternness down. Minseok approaches again and leans down, taking Baekhyun’s face in his hands before giving him a quick, fairly chaste kiss. It’s enough for Baekhyun, though, and he grins as Minseok walks to start unpacking his kitchen items.

“This is going to be fun,” Baekhyun says with a nod. “Like a never-ending slumber party. With sex.”

“Something tells me you only asked me to move in because of sex,” Minseok laughs a little as he starts to find a place to hang Baekhyun’s sticker board.

He pushes the sticky backing against the wall, holding the board firmly in place to make sure it sticks. It looks kind of cute there by the fridge—innocuous, mostly, until coming into closer view and noticing that this particular chore board also includes things like swallowing a load without choking. Baekhyun already has four stars in that particular task.

“I asked you to move in because I’m lonely and you people have finally made me admit that and you need to get out of that terrible apartment,” Baekhyun says. He starts to poke through Minseok’s things, pulling a box of clothes over to him to rifle through. “The sex is a bonus. Which I deserve right now. I carried three whole boxes!”

“Do you want me to take a sticker away? Because I will.”

Baekhyun lets out a soft laugh deep in his throat, scrunching his nose up. He takes the hint and stops with his whining and instead resumes being nosy. Most of Minseok’s clothes are either fancy work outfits or ridiculously casual workout clothes, and neither really interests Baekhyun. He pauses upon pulling out an oversized football jersey, immediately thinking back to Minseok transferring into their high school and promptly finding a place for himself on the football team. Chanyeol had met him first and insisted that they were all going to be friends, despite Baekhyun’s insistence that football people don’t exactly mingle with the weird artsy people. And yet somehow Chanyeol wormed his way into Minseok’s consciousness and the next thing Baekhyun knew, their Saturday movie nights had one extra person laughing loudly along with Chanyeol and providing a really cozy position sandwiched between them.

It felt nice to think about a happy memory rather than the slow, overly explicit thoughts of his father that tended to consume.

Baekhyun doesn’t hesitate further and pulls off his t-shirt, then pulls on Minseok’s jersey. He hops to his feet and wanders to the kitchen.

“I’m keeping this,” he announces.

Minseok looks up. Blinks a few times. Swallows hard. The way he’s watching makes Baekhyun’s entire body set alight, and he puts his hands on his hips to stand a bit straighter and enjoy the attention. Usually, when Minseok looks like that, one or both of them winds up pantsless and panting. They’d had sex in Baekhyun’s house before but he’s sure it’ll feel different now that it’s Minseok’s house, too.

Instead, he goes back to arranging his appliances on the counter, and Baekhyun shoulders slump with disappointment.

“You should wear that around the house,” Minseok comments. “It looks better on you.”

A tiny fraction of Baekhyun’s excitement comes back, and he walks to lay his head on Minseok’s back. “I’m really excited to have you here,” he says quietly.

“I’m excited to be here. You are really sweaty. You should start working out with me so you’re not winded from lifting a coffee mug.”

“It was three boxes!” Minseok laughs and pushes his hips back gently to bump Baekhyun with his butt. “And if I worked out with you, I’d lose my cute fluff and you like it.”

“Excellent point,” Minseok nods.

He turns and gives Baekhyun another look over, then reaches out to pull him by the waist of his jeans over into a kiss. Baekhyun nearly loses his balance, but manages to both stay upright and avoid stepping on Minseok’s toes as he presses against him. He loops his index fingers in Minseok’s front pockets, a quiet hum vibrating in him. The last time he’d had someone to kiss like this was long enough ago that he can’t even remember a face, let alone a name, but he knows it was nothing anywhere near as wonderful. Kissing Minseok feels like the first deep breath after a long, uncomfortable dive.

Minseok sucks Baekhyun’s lower lip as he pulls back, letting it go with a smile before kissing Baekhyun’s forehead. “Bed,” he says quietly as he tucks an errant piece of hair back into Baekhyun’s bandanna. The light from the grin that produces can practically power the whole house, and Baekhyun does his best to walk calmly to his room despite the butterflies in his stomach trying to push him along faster.


	18. 18

The knots in Baekhyun’s stomach started to form their own knots as he sat patiently on his bed, watching Minseok. His hands rest on his thighs, feet cradling his ass, as instructed. He wanted to ask what Minseok was looking for, but since bed meant quiet, there wasn’t really much to do beyond watch and wait. The anticipation causes a tiny twitch in his jeans, and he shifted some to try and get more comfortable.

From his vantage point, he could see into the slight gap of Minseok’s pants as he squatted down by the closet, and Baekhyun smiled to himself about it. When Minseok stood again, he held the red box in his hand. Baekhyun hummed and pressed his lips together more to keep from making further noise.

“I want to try something,” Minseok says as he uncovers the box. He pulls the silk tie out and sets the box aside again. “Is that okay with you?” Baekhyun’s neck threatens to snap if he nods any faster. His enthusiasm makes Minseok smile.

Baekhyun holds his wrists out, but Minseok ignores them. Instead, he puts the tie around Baekhyun’s eyes, shifting it some to keep the broader part in front. Baekhyun feels fingers across his forehead and smiles a little. As if having his hair in a decent place mattered at the moment. He appreciated Minseok’s attention to detail.

“Can you see anything?” A head shake. “You trust me?” A nod. “Good. My good puppy.”

Lips crash against his, and Baekhyun parts his mouth in anticipation. He wants Minseok to touch him somewhere, anywhere, but concedes that the kissing is nice enough. He’s bitter from coffee but Baekhyun enjoys the secondhand caffeine. He starts to lift a hand from his thigh before thinking better of it. The lack of touching is excruciating.

Minseok snaps away and the loss of contact makes Baekhyun whimper. Minseok’s hands guide him back against the bed, push him into lying down, and he swears the pounding in his chest is audible over the music filling the air. He raises his hands above his head, crossing his wrists even without any restraints or instruction. His pants are tugged off, hit the floor with a flop, and suddenly Minseok’s weight is over him.

Another kiss, a sloppier, urgent one, keeps Baekhyun from starting to beg and he moves a hand into Minseok’s hair. His grip is firm, almost punishing, but he’s given a pleased groan as a reward. As much as he enjoys Minseok enjoying him, he prefers making his boyfriend yelp from time to time. They both grunt as Minseok ruts against Baekhyun, still clothed. Baekhyun takes his free hand to squeeze Minseok’s ass and draw him even closer.

“You look beautiful like this,” Minseok murmurs. Passion slurs his words enough that he sounds drunk and it makes Baekhyun’s head swim.

Minseok’s fingers tickle along his thighs as Minseok squirms for a moment. His lips slide to Baekhyun’s jaw, gnawing and licking and humming enough that Baekhyun practically vibrates. Even behind the blindfold, he closes his eyes. It feels nice, making someone so jittery with lust. Feels even nice that it’s Minseok. Those fingers come up to his mouth and push a little, and Baekhyun opens. He’s careful not to scrape his teeth on Minseok’s fingers, licking and sucking as Minseok moves his hips with a hair more force.

Those fingers pull from Baekhyun’s lips with a pop before being pushed against his opening. Baekhyun gasps a little, tenses for a moment. It takes a few quiet murmurs of reassurance to get him to relax some, and Minseok takes care to reach for extra lube. He takes his time, pauses now and then to check in with Baekhyun, starts and stops on whims along with his grinding. Time slows down and fast forwards and ties itself in a neat little bow and all Baekhyun wants is Minseok inside but but saying the words are impossible. He chooses to whine instead, rolling his hips against Minseok.

Minseok’s laugh is breathy, but he moves his fingers away. But then, everything else moves away as well. Baekhyun starts to feel a small sense of panic in hise chest at the thought of being left high and dry, but as soon as he’s right on the edge of breaking his silence, Minseok pulls him up onto his knees. Strong hands start to pull his hips down and the feeling of Minseok’s cock head, slick with pre-come, startles a gasp out of him which quickly shifts into a giggle. His hands tighten around Minseok’s neck to steady himself.

When he’s flush against Minseok’s lap, he keeps still to wait for a yes or no about moving. He can feel Minseok shaking some beneath him, though he wonders if he’s the one shaking the both of them. They sit still, and Baekhyun marvels at just how well they fit together. How perfect it feels to have Minseok inside of him, warm and full and happy. He coughs quietly to drive back a sob.

His hand comes to grip Minseok’s hair again, leaning his head in to rest against the crook of Minseok’s neck. He could almost fall asleep like this.His momentary sleepiness gets disrupted by a thrust that snaps him out of his happy cozy daydream.

“Fuck! Oh God, yes!” Minseok laughs again before kissing Baekhyun to quiet him down. He thrusts up again, and again, and again until the rhythm becomes something Baekhyun expects, loves, needs. 

He doesn’t even need to squeeze his free hand between them, the friction from their chests doing more than enough to send Baekhyun careening toward coming. He considers leaning back, pushing away from Minseok’s chest, but the idea of it isn’t anywhere near as appealing as coming on Minseok’s tight abs. He doesn’t bother lifting his head from Minseok’s neck and simply starts to bite down against him from right there.

The biting knocks Minseok off of his rhythm for a few beats and Baekhyun laughs quietly at his intensified thrusting. “Evil puppy,” Minseok mumbles. “I’m about to come, are you ready for that?” Baekhyun manages a pleased hum. “Mm, you’re so good.” The smile in his voice is clear as day behind the silk tie. “Fuck…Oh God.”

Baekhyun stops moving as much at the feel of Minseok’s hips pressing his own down. After a few moments of stillness, Minseok starts to move Baekhyun’s hips in slow, torturous circles, keeping their hips against each other. Minseok takes the hint and wiggles his hips just barely until he feels Minseok jerk beneath him. Minseok’s wailing practically echoes in the room and Baekhyun has chills from making him make such a guttural sound. 

“You didn’t come,” Minseok groans. He nudges Baekhyun back against the bed and it takes less than half a second for Baekhyun to be gifted with the familiar warmth of Minseok’s mouth.

Baekhyun moans again, grateful for how much Minseok seems to love his cock. With all the extra attention, Minseok is barely between Baekhyun’s legs for a minute before Baekhyun gives a warning tap. Minseok pulls back with a delightful pop for a moment, stroking him fervently. It made Baekhyun laugh at how often they seemed to play some kind of beat the clock game with blowing each other, pulling back to see if they could guess exactly when the other would shoot. Somehow, Minseok’s better at it.

Almost as soon as Baekhyun gets that familiar tightness, Minseok is back on him, damp and warm and amazing. His throat undulating to swallow just pulls more out of Baekhyun and for a moment Baekhyun feels like he’ll never actually stop coming. When he’s finally through, Minseok gives his hip a firm smack.

“Good boy—”

“Hellooooo?”

Baekhyun doesn’t have to lift the tie from his eyes to know Minseok’s face, at the sound of Chanyeol yelling downstairs, has gone from elation to irritation. He sighs some and slides the tie up on his head partially before giving Minseok an apologetic grin. It doesn’t make Minseok feel any better.

“Put your pants on,” he mumbles, getting out of the bed to zip his own up.


	19. 19

Park Chanyeol has never once as long as Baekhyun has known him not had terrible timing. Like in seventh grade when he’d walked in on Baekhyun with his lips pressed awkwardly to a mutual friend of theirs. Or in ninth grade when, after a series of Chanyeol catching him jerking off, he started to question if it was intentional. Or earlier in the year, waltzing in to his parents’ house to find Baekhyun, silent and slack-jawed, staring at his dead father.

At least this time, Baekhyun could be grateful that he’d already gotten off and no one was dead.

“I helped,” Chanyeol points out for the third time as he grins. Minseok chews his brownie quietly, his big eyes stuck on Baekhyun considering this intrusion is definitely his fault. “I mixed everything so that counts as helping. I’m not really good at baking. I was going to make you dinner but the Kyungsoo said brownies are a better housewarming gift but really I think—”

“You know, I love you, Chanyeol, but we talked about you texting before you let yourself in,” Baekhyun says.

“I did text.”

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow, then remembers that he definitely did not have his phone on him. He gets up to grab it from the kitchen counter and is greeted by a series of texts, all from Chanyeol.

_We’re coming over! WE MADE BROWNIES._

_OK only I’m coming Kyungsoo fell back asleep and I’m bored._

_Hellooooo Hyunnie why arent you answering did a box fall on you???_

_I’m on the porch._

_I’m coming in._

_I’m in the living room yelling, where are you? D:_

“See?”

“I see,” Baekhyun laughs some.

“You know you have a tie on your head?” Chanyeol gestures to it, and Baekhyun quickly slides it off and shoves it into a drawer. “And why are you wearing that old jers oh crap were you two doing freaky sub shit?”

“Do you want a beer?” Baekhyun asks. He grabs three from the fridge anyway and brings them back to the living room.

“You should put a sign on the door,” Chanyeol decides with a nod. “Then I won’t walk in.”

“Maybe just don’t walk in, period?” Minseok suggests. It looks, for a second, as if he’d just suggested Chanyeol shove each and every brownie up his ass and never come over again, as Chanyeol’s mouth slides down into a frown.

“I was here first,” he mumbles. He sips his beer and slumps in his seat, and Minseok pinches his mouth shut to keep from picking at that attempt at an argument.

“So what are you doing this weekend?” Baekhyun asks. His faux cheeriness is too loud and too annoying even to his own ears.

“We’re playing tonight,” Chanyeol says. “I wanted to invite you to dinner and pay for your tickets. To celebrate.”

“Can you afford—”

“That sounds fun!” Baekhyun cuts his eyes to Minseok a moment, shaking his head slightly. “Text me the info; we’ll be there.”

Chanyeol quickly fills Baekhyun in, then stands and excuses himself to go back and check in on Kyungsoo. Once they’re alone again, Minseok lets out a series of annoyed groans.

“He was worried,” Baekhyun explains. “So I made him a key…He doesn’t normally—” The lie gets cut off with an uptick of Minseok’s brow. “Okay, so he drops in a few times a week. But it’s just because he’s scared I’ll die alone here or something. I’ll talk to him.”

“You two have even fewer boundaries than I thought,” Minseok laughs a little as he reaches for another brownie.

“I refuse to have our first couple fight revolve around Park Chanyeol so I’m not even going to answer you.”

Minseok laughs quietly as Baekhyun goes back toward the kitchen to retrieve the tie. “You’re lucky I’m really lax with you,” he says. “Otherwise you and your smart mouth would be punished pretty much constantly.”

“Yes, but you’re too nice and you think I’m too cute for that.” Baekhyun grins, fastens the tie around his neck loosely.

“Come put my clothes back in their box,” Minseok says.

Baekhyun briefly worries that the teasing has taken a wrong turn. That somehow, Minseok is actually annoyed with him for his normal antics. His smile sinks, and he hesitates before walking back into the living room to fold the discarded clothes up nicely. They don’t speak.


	20. 20

There isn’t really a honeymoon period. They don’t fall into domesticity so much as they casually step in from just over the line of it. As easy as it had been to ask Minseok to move in in the first place, Baekhyun still finds himself surprised at how appropriate it feels to have him living with him. How much it feels like the right thing to do.

Normal becomes Sunday morning brunch and bound wrists. Carpooling to work with Minseok edging Baekhyun along the whole ride. Movie nights with blindfolds. An entire board of gold stars. Baekhyun feels a fullness with Minseok around that he didn’t realize he was missing. He goes two whole weeks without even thinking about his father.

New Year’s Eve slinks up, and Baekhyun’s eyes blur from the combination of cocktails he’d been throwing back all evening while they wait for the ball to drop. Minseok can’t keep his hands to himself, not that Baekhyun minds, adjusting Baekhyun on his lap now and then in the midst of conversation with Yixing and his new girlfriend whose name none of them bothered to learn or try to remember.

It’s normal now, Minseok’s hand on Baekhyun’s thigh. Their friends no longer raise eyebrows or make comments. Even Kyungsoo and Chanyeol, off to themselves sneaking kisses in a corner of the living room, is normal now. It’s almost too much for Baekhyun to process.

He smiles at Minseok nuzzling his neck and leans back, relaxing against Minseok’s chest and swinging his legs briefly. Whatever the conversation is about flies straight over his head and he has no problem keeping it that way. Instead, he focuses his attention on studying Minseok’s free hand. He runs his fingertips over the short nails, pinches the skin of his knuckles, trails along the faint hint of veins on the back of his hand. Their fingers fit together in a way that scares Baekhyun a little.

By the time the clock strikes midnight, they’re too busy dissolving into one another to even notice. If it weren’t for the loud shouts from Chanyeol, the random confetti he and Yixing throw, it would just seem like any other late-night makeout session. And everything is good and fine and normal until Baekhyun remembers.

For a second, he’s grateful that he managed to make it into a new year without thinking about it. But then with those memories rushing up, crashing over him like a wave breaking over the shore in a tropical storm, he’s not really grateful for anything anymore.  
Minseok yelling his name sounds muffled beneath the wave, and he takes the stairs two by two up to his bedroom to lock himself in his bathroom.

The year before, same guests, much different feel. And in the middle of kissing Minseok, all that flashes into Baekhyun’s mind is how the year before, he’d been throat-deep on Yixing while his father sat dying.

As far as Baekhyun knows, he’s never actually died, but it definitely feels like that’s what’s happening as he lies on his bathroom floor. Suddenly taking up so much space feels too much to handle, and he curls up as tightly as he can. His ears fill with his sobbing as his head fills with flashes of everything he’d spent all this time with Minseok trying to forget. This definitely feels like dying.

Every inhale shakes and stutters to the point where Baekhyun doesn’t even feel like trying to breathe anymore. He’d hoped, however slight, that he’d manage to not fall apart anymore. Not with Minseok. And yet.

“Hyunnie?” Chanyeol is loud enough to be heard even as far down below the waves as Baekhyun is, but he doesn’t make an effort to answer. He can’t. “Hey, Hyunnie? Could you open the door?”

The worried edges in his tone just make Baekhyun feel even worse. Chanyeol means well. He’s meant well every single time he’s shown up unannounced, letting himself in to make sure that day isn’t the day Baekhyun does manage to off himself. Not that they ever talk about that. Not that he’d ever tell Minseok that that was behind all the random visits.

A hand finds its way into Baekhyun’s hair and he opens his eyes. But it’s not Chanyeol. Minseok smiles at him, a different kind of smile from his normal one and Baekhyun thinks it might be pity but everything’s so hazy he isn’t quite sure.

“So much for trying to distract you,” Minseok says. Baekhyun can’t do much more than scoot himself closer, head in Minseok’s lap, lying between his outstretched legs. The petting Minseok starts up calms him, sort of, and the waves recede just a few feet. “I’m sorry.”

Baekhyun tries to answer, but all the crying’s just left him with an angry stomach. He heaves a few times every time he opens his mouth to talk before actually expelling all the day’s festivities on the bathroom floor and Minseok. Minseok sighs heavily.

“I really should have seen that coming,” he says before yelling for Chanyeol to come help.

The two of them work together without much said, and Baekhyun feels even worse about being such a burden. He doesn’t move from where they place him on his bed, barely cooperating as they get him changed into pajamas. He hears Chanyeol’s concerned mutterings and Minseok’s silk-smooth rebuttals, listens to the bedroom door shut gently, hears the bed creak ever so slightly under Minseok’s weight.

“They’re going to stay downstairs,” Minseok says. The petting starts again. Baekhyun can’t get far enough into Minseok’s lap. “We were really hoping you’d get too drunk to focus.”

“Mission unaccomplished,” Baekhyun nearly whispers. Minseok’s chest shakes with a quiet laugh.

“I love you.” It sounds certain, but Baekhyun can’t really believe it. No one loves people who go out partying instead of checking in on a sick parent. And he wants for those words to chase the waves away completely but they hardly even budge. “It’s shitty timing but I just need you to know that. And you need to know it wasn’t your fault. I love you, and it’s not your fault. Okay? If you know that, pinch my arm.”

Baekhyun’s thumb twitches but he can’t bring himself to actually pinch him.

“That’s okay,” Minseok continues. “I’ll just keep telling you every day until you know. Even if it takes a thousand days. How longis a thousand days? Nevermind. Just know that I’m here, and I’m going to be here. Even if I never get that pinch. Even if we break up and you hate me and never want to see me again.”

Baekhyun considers smiling at that. The waves get beat back just a little bit more.


	21. 21

The morning is just as dark and blurry as the night had been. Baekhyun wonders how Minseok even managed to sleep sitting up, flopped over some with his hand still resting on Baekhyun’s back. He doesn’t stir as Baekhyun sits up.

The word ‘love’ rolls around in his head the entire time he gets himself ready for the day, from the first swipe of his toothbrush to the last drop of water that beads off of his nose. Minseok had said it. He was probably drunk or pitying or some gross combination of the two. He definitely didn’t mean it because no one ever means it with Baekhyun.

By the time he emerges from his bathroom to find clothes for the day, Minseok is curled up in a more proper position, his breathing deep and melodic. It takes less than a minute to dress himself and stop staring at Minseok in order to head downstairs. The living room is in shambles, but no one is around to clean it up and Baekhyun considers texting them all to swear at them. He walks toward his board and looks it over for a while, then carefully pulls down the newest sheet and folds it to sit aside. He takes the pen resting on the smell ridge at the top of the board and uncaps it, thinking for a moment before putting said pen to paper.

_I’m sorry._

——

He hadn’t intended to go completely off the grid, but once he makes it to his mother’s, he realizes he didn’t grab his charger and buying a new one seems like way too much effort, and so simply disconnecting was easier. She’s as surprised to see him as he is to show up, considering they both found it hard to be around one another after his father’s death. Looking at Baekhyun made her sad, and looking at his mother made Baekhyun feel guilty, and so they did what they could to avoid face to face time.

It takes three days before they felt less stiff around each other, and three bottles of wine to loosen up enough to have the first real talk about what had happened. Baekhyun managed to make it through without another panic attack. He unloads on her like he used to, talking about Minseok and his hatred of running the company and how horrible he feels about letting his father die. The words snowball, picking up intensity and speed the more he talks until eventually his mother simply silences him with a hug. He feels the waves backing off a little bit more again.

A week passes before Baekhyun decides to turn his phone back on. Texts from Chanyeol taper off from every fifteen minutes to just once a day by day four. Kyungsoo calls once a day, every day, at six in the evening, and each of his voice messages say the same thing - _I hope you’re safe_. Checking the texts from Minseok proves the most difficult, and he can feel in his bones that one of them will say that they’re through.

He finds himself going through text after text of Minseok updating him on work, photos of the others cleaning up the house, a new houseplant he’s picked up for them. There aren’t any admonishing texts or Dear Johns. Only normalcy and I love yous. His smile threatens to take over his entire face as he scrolls back to look at one of the photos - a fresh sheet on his reward board, no stars, and one giant frowny face with _super mega trouble_ in the punishment column. 

Another day passes before Baekhyun works up the nerve to go home, and it isn’t until very late that he shows up. He stops and stares at the ficus in the corner of the living room, then creeps his way up the stairs. For some reason, he hadn’t expected to see Minseok there. To see the lump in his bed gives him pause. He steps closer once he regains his wits, then leans in and puts a hand against the curve of Minseok’s hip.

Minseok groans, wiggles a bit beneath Baekhyun’s hand, but it takes more gentle nudging before he actually awakens.

“What,” he groans.

“Wake up,” Baekhyun says. He pats him on the ass again. “I’m home.”

“Okay.”

Baekhyun can’t help but laugh. He takes a quick shower, changes into pajamas, then slides into the bed behind Minseok to press his head against his back. Minseok presses his hips back with a quiet grumble. His soft breathing fills the air again, and Baekhyun decides to let him be, since clearly he’s too tired to do much beyond grumble.

In the morning, Baekhyun wakes to see Minseok staring down at him. Tufts of black hair stick up every which way and Baekhyun finds himself smiling earlier than he’s ever done before. 

“You’re a furnace,” Minseok says. He reaches to sweep his fingertips along Baekhyun’s cheek. “I should tell you no talking, considering you ran the hell away from me. Stop making that face.” Baekhyun laughs quietly as Minseok pushes his bottom lip back in, effectively thwarting his pout. “I missed you and I hate that.”

“I hate that I missed you too,” Baekhyun says. He takes Minseok’s fingertips into his mouth and bites them gently.

“Being cute is really not going to stop me from being annoyed.” His eyes tell a completely different story as Baekhyun watches the concern slip away in lieu of something different. Something sparkly and sweet and cozy.

“I love you too.” Once he realizes he can’t take it back, Baekhyun tries to look more sure about it. “I love you too and I’m sorry…about…”

“Don’t.” Minseok shakes his head. “You have things to work out, and I’m not going to yell at you about that. But maybe next time, text?”

Baekhyun nods, then reaches and pinches Minseok’s side.

“Ow, stop—You are such a pain in the ass,” Minseok sighs. “You heard me? I thought you would be too drunk for that.”

“I have the amazing ability to remember even when drunk,” Baekhyun says. “I talked with my mom and that…helped. A lot. I’m going to let her take over the company officially. We’ll share the title, sort of, but she’ll do the work.”

“What about me?”

Baekhyun thinks that the look on Minseok’s face has to be the sweetest thing he’s ever seen. The wide eyes, disheveled hair, slightly gaping lips. It’s weird to him, the way it doesn’t seem weird at all anymore to think about love. He smiles.

“I’m keeping you.”


	22. Epilogue

Baekhyun doesn’t mind the sting of the bookcase shelf cracking against his back. He gasps briefly at the pain of it but his mouth is quickly occupied by Minseok’s almost desperate kissing and he forgets all about that injury. All he cares about is this, in the moment, with Minseok’s hands holding him up by his ass as they attempt to make it toward the sofa. A wrong turn meant slamming into the bookshelf, but neither of them complains.

Instead, Minseok reroutes his plans and holds Baekhyun up as best he can by using the shelf as some support. They hadn’t planned on stepping into the waiting area to make out, but it seemed like a wonderful idea at the time. Between staring at all the wedding decorations and watching guests start to file in and staring at each other in fancy suits, they both became overwhelmed by the need to be on each other.

It took a few tries before they could break away long enough to get pants off and out of the way, and the feel of Minseok’s cool thighs against him makes Baekhyun moan. He wraps his arms tighter around Minseok’s waist and tries to fight off another noise as Minseok’s hips undulate against him.

“Oh, fuck I love you,” Baekhyun pants. He pushes down some and works his hips with the rhythm Minseok has set. “I want you to fuck me.”

“No time and no lube,” Minseok grunts. His member pulses against Baekhyun’s inner thigh, making both of them shiver. “We’re supposed to be out there now.”

“Harder, then.”

Baekhyun’s head nods forward to rest against the crook of Minseok’s neck as the older man starts to thrust up against him with so much intensity that Baekhyun wonders if the cotton of his briefs will chafe.

Minseok, mostly quiet, starts to pant more heavily with each thrust. Baekhyun can’t help but wonder how he’d managed to get so lucky to have Minseok as his for almost two years. Two years, and not once did he try to run away again. He accepted the love given—not just from Minseok, but from their whole circle.

“We should’ve gone to the car,” Minseok mutters. His legs wobble some, and he gives Baekhyun a brief bounce to slide him higher again. Baekhyun gasps at the feel of Minseok’s erection grazing his ass.

“No time, remember?” Baekhyun laughs some and bites Minseok on the neck lightly, carefully, to avoid a spot showing up in wedding photos. “Mm, just fuck me harder.” His teeth tug at an earlobe, and Minseok shudders again. He thrusts hard enough that the shelf digs in to Baekhyun’s back again. “Oh!”

“Quiet.”

Baekhyun clams up before Minseok even has to finish the word. He likes commanding, authoritative Minseok. He loves him.

With all the rubbing and touching and listening to Minseok quietly moan, Baekhyun feels his orgasm coming. He tries to tamp it back down, stilling his hips and shutting his eyes tight. But Minseok pins him tighter, grips his thighs harder, and it’s nearly impossible to stop.

His teeth sink in a little further and he moans and gives Minseok a small tap. Minseok slides a hand from Baekhyun’s thigh and puts it between them, giving Baekhyun a firm squeeze as he does. It’s more than enough, and Baekhyun hopes his moaning isn’t loud enough to alert the others in the church. He can feel Minseok’s legs shaking some, and he lowers a leg to the ground to support himself instead of adding on to the weight. He smiles as he reaches to stroke Minseok to a finish. His heart feels like it’s going to explode into tiny heart-shaped confetti as Minseok comes mumbling his name.

Minseok’s post-come smile makes Baekhyun the happiest he’s ever been, and he leans to kiss it briefly before pulling away to go grab tissues for them. The door to the room flings open just as Baekhyun is zipping his pants back up. Chanyeol stands in the doorway looking startled to have actually found them, let alone to have found them looking sweaty and guilty.

“…I don’t want to know,” he says as he covers his eyes. “But the procession’s starting up soon and Yixing is cursing your names for going missing, so unless you want to deal with the angriest groom in the world—”

“We’re coming,” Minseok says.

“I just said I don’t want to know.” Chanyeol sighs, then closes the door as he backs his way out.

Baekhyun, ears bright and heart still fluttering, looks to Minseok with a small smile. “I hope I never get as stressed out about a wedding as Yixing has been,” he says.

Minseok smiles back. He walks clover to Baekhyun and straightens his tie, takes care to put his hair back into place. “We’ll see,” he nods. He winks, gives a quick tap beneath Baekhyun’s chin, and heads for the door. The heart confetti engulfs Baekhyun’s entire chest. “Come on before we get written out of this wedding.”

Baekhyun walks faster than he ever has before.


End file.
